Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: Power Of Time
by Sociopathic-Antichrist
Summary: The Takamachi bloodline contained a gift. Specifically, Momoko's side of the family. The art of divination. Reading cards and fortelling the future. And this gift was passed on to Nanoha.
1. Chapter 1

Power Of Time

Disclaimer: I don't own Nanoha. Nuff said.

Chapter 01

Nanoha smiled faintly at Arisa and Suzuka as she passed the bus driver and made her way down the aisle. Stumbling a bit as the bus started up and pulled away from the curb, she pouted as Arisa laughed.

"Oh be quiet" Nanoha said and sat down though the self-admonishing shake of the head she gave took any rebuke from her words.

"Come on Nanoha!" Arisa urged, her hands clenching and unclenching as if nervous.

Suzuka rolled her eyes but couldn't disguise how eager she was. Leaning forward and peering expectantly at Nanoha, she too made the strange grasping motions.

Laughing at their expressions, Nanoha slowly reached into the bag and withdrew the old wooden box that lay flat at the bottom, kept secure by her bento, folder of homework and the many other accoutrements that rattled in the bag.

"Fine, fine" she mumbled whilst carefully easing the lid off the box and revealing the cards inside.

"Come on Nanoha! Read the cards!" Arisa whined.

Suzuka prepared a stinging rebuke for her friend before stopping at the hypocrisy. She too was eager to see what Nanoha's cards would reveal.

Taking a deep breath, Nanoha closed her eyes and held the cards in the flat of her hand whilst her friends looked on in anticipation.

"I love this part" Suzuka whispered.

Nanoha began to shuffle the cards carefully and every now and then would pull a card from the deck and lay it face down on the seat which had been vacated by Arisa.

Stopping, Nanoha opened her eyes and looked down at the five cards. Setting the remaining cards back inside the box but leaving the top off, she glanced at the two of them before turning over the first card.

"Lightning. There will be something powerful happening today" she murmured.

Arisa grinned at Suzuka.

"Shield…something will be defended today" she continued, flipping the second card with a grace that belied her years and proved she had been doing it for many years.

"Cloak and dagger. There are dangerous secrets about. Beware" she stated, making a spooky face to lighten the atmosphere.

Inside though, she was troubled. It wasn't necessarily a bad reading so far but it was exceptionally potent. The next two cards could easily ruin or make the day and for a moment her hand paused above the fourth card before she flipped it.

"Earth. There will either be change today or everything will stay the same" she murmured, glancing up at the two. "Given the previous three cards, we can assume there will be change today" she stated, easily interpreting the portents.

Flipping the fifth card, she blinked before looking at both Arisa and Suzuka. "The friend. So a friend today has a dangerous secret that will need to be defended. And the defence will be quite powerful" she stated.

Arisa and Suzuka blinked owlishly before giving some half-hearted applause. Already their eyes were subtly glancing at each other.

"I could be wrong though. I'm just a beginner. My mom could tell you what times you'd be going to the toilet today" Nanoha joked and laughed at the paling of her two friends faces.

Momoko Takamachi was an expert card-reader and both Arisa and Suzuka had been dazed by the woman's accuracy.

Slipping the five cards back into the box with reverence, Nanoha slipped the lid back on and gently placed it back inside her bag.

Seeing Arisa and Suzuka were in no mood to talk, Nanoha glanced out the window as she recalled how it had begun.

_Nanoha glanced up curiously as she felt her mother sit down beside her. Up till now, she had been drawing idly on a few pieces of paper whilst her mother had been upstairs._

"_Alright Nanoha. Do you want your surprise now?" Momoko asked, smiling down at her child with hope brightening her eyes._

"_Yes! Yes!" Nanoha cheered, letting out the excitement she had been feeling. "What is it mommy?" she asked, peering at her mother._

_Momoko laughed quietly and raised a hand to stall Nanoha's barrage of questions. "Come upstairs with me Nanoha. It's in your room" she stated. _

_Nanoha clambered to her feet and beamed up at Momoko. _

"_I'm not telling you" Momoko stated, giggling at her youngest daughters pout._

_Making their way upstairs, Nanoha bounded into her room but was pulled up short by the sight of an obsidian box sitting in the middle of her floor._

_And not roughly the middle but the exact centre of her room. Quite a feat given all the toys scattered about._

_Momoko sat and she patted the floor next to her._

"_Nanoha. My mother taught me this and my grand-mother taught my mother. This goes back a long time" Momoko explained, stopping Nanoha's curious hands with a light tap to the back of her hand._

_Pouting, Nanoha began to listen attentively._

"_This has been passed down in our family for many years. Usually, the first daughter would learn this…"_

"_Miyuki knows it? But you said this was for me!" Nanoha whined, pouting at the unfairness._

"_No, Nanoha. She didn't want to learn. Miyuki wanted to be play outside with the boys. I was so sad she didn't want to learn and I was afraid that it would stop with me. But when you were born…when I looked down at you, I knew that you would be my last chance" Momoko explained._

_Nanoha nodded, not truly comprehending the gravity of the situation or the speech._

_Momoko slowly pulled the lid off the box and she smiled when Nanoha's surprise and awe reached her in the form of a gasp. _

_In the box was a deck of cards but the designs on the back were truly amazing._

_At first it looked like a flaming moon but the next second it look like a cold sun. Such was the way they were designed that every time you looked at them, you saw something new._

_It was an artistic tribute to the malleability of the future._

"_Now Nanoha. I want you to hold these cards gently and sit here. Close your eyes and just relax. Don't think about anything, just listen" Momoko requested and laughed at Nanoha's almost rebellious look._

"_I know you want to go back to drawing but please Nanoha, do this for me" Momoko pleaded._

_And just for a moment, Nanoha was able to see the desperation filling her mom._

"_Okay mommy" Nanoha acquiesced and took the cards. Setting them on her left hand and closing her eyes, she didn't hear Momoko depart the room with a smile._

_Nanoha sat there quietly with her eyes closed and her breathing slowing to almost a crawl._

_Time seemed to pass slowly in the room as Nanoha sat there, hand keeping the cards aloft and not moving._

_Slowly, her right hand rose and she began to lift card after card off the deck. Every now and then she'd pause and lay a card face down to her right whilst the others were laid in a pile to her left._

_Stopping after the fifth card, she opened her eyes and blinked at the cards on both her left and right._

"_Mom! I'm done!" Nanoha called out._

_Thirty seconds later, Momoko entered the room with a stunned expression on her face. _

"_Nanoha! That's amazing! That only took an hour" Momoko praised, giggling at the thunderstruck expression on her daughters face. _

_Nanoha blushed at the praise and ducked her head._

"_Turn the cards over Nanoha. The five on your right" Momoko requested._

_Nodding, Nanoha turned over the first one._

"_Love. That means Shiro" Momoko explained to Nanoha's confused expression. The image on the card was an arrow with a heart for the head._

_Turning over the next card, Nanoha revealed water._

_Momoko stayed silent, intrigued by the cards Nanoha was turning over._

_Next came fire._

_Momoko frowned at that. Water and fire were elemental enemies and they rarely showed up together in a reading. When they did, it was often very good and very bad._

_Nanoha turned over the next card and she blinked._

"_The Caduceus. It means healing" Momoko murmured distractedly, calling Shiro's cell-phone number to the front of her mind._

_Nanoha paused before she turned over the last card._

_A moment later and Momoko went white and raced out of the room._

_Nanoha glanced down at the card and shivered._

_Death._

_Packing the cards up slowly and making sure they all fit inside the box perfectly, Nanoha slid the lid back on and picked up the box. She wasn't sure why she picked it up, only that it felt right to do so._

_Moments later and she heard a scream come from her mom._

"_Mommy! What's wrong?" Nanoha shouted, racing down the stairs and skidding clumsily into the kitchen after bumping into the wall. _

"_Nanoha…your dad has had an accident" Momoko whispered._

_Seeing her daughter freeze and glance at the cards, Momoko knew she had to act fast. Kneeling, she lifted her daughter's chin._

"_Nanoha. The cards didn't make this happen. They only showed that it would happen. You probably saved your fathers life" Momoko whispered, hugging Nanoha._

_Nanoha blinked and returned the hug, the box of cards nestled between them. "Ok mommy."_

Nanoha blinked as the jolt from the bus stopping brought her out of the memory. Yelping in shock when she realised she had passed her stop, she raced to the driver.

"I'm really sorry! Can you please open the doors?" Nanoha begged.

Nodding gruffly, he opened the doors and Nanoha jumped out.

To find that the bus hadn't even gone ten feet past her stop.

Arisa was clutching her stomach and crying with laughter whilst Suzuka was desperately trying to restrain her mirth whilst also trying to admonish Arisa.

Needless to say it wasn't working.

Huffing, Nanoha walked past them with her nose in the air. "Guess who isn't getting a reading tomorrow" she stated, smiling slyly at their twin yelps of shock.

Hurrying on to school, Nanoha's laughter could be heard over the twin exclamations from her friends.

====

Nanoha was still smiling as she and her friends made their way to Midori-ya. Whilst the sting of the prank had worn off, the amusement had not faded from either side.

As they entered the Midori-ya café, Nanoha shook her head in amusement as Arisa tugged Suzuka to their regular bench. Already one of the waitresses was taking over their regular order with a look of mock-exasperation on her face.

Nanoha proceeded behind the counter and into the kitchen where Momoko was taking a break.

"How was school Nanoha?" Momoko asked whilst watching her daughter curiously. Whilst she didn't personally agree with Nanoha doing readings every day, she knew that Nanoha would have to discover it in her own time.

"Good. I got an interesting reading today" Nanoha responded, easily understanding what her mom was really asking.

"Draw the cards again" Momoko requested and raised a hand to forestall Nanoha's question. "By simply repeating what cards you drew, you mock the powers that are beyond us. If they want you to draw the same cards, you will" Momoko explained.

Nodding, Nanoha closed her eyes and began to shuffle the cards.

Every few seconds she would draw a card and lay it face down on the steel work-bench before returning to the slow shuffling. Stopping after the fifth was laid down, she opened her eyes and flipped the cards.

"Are those the same cards?" Momoko inquired, examining them and the way they were laid out.

This time, The Friend was closest to the left which was Nanoha's primary hand. Then came Cloak and Dagger which meant that a friend would have a dangerous secret. Then came the shield card and Momoko quirked an eyebrow before glancing at the next.

"Lightning. An auspicious card when found with these" she murmured.

Finally glancing at Earth, she sat still for a moment.

"I'm seeing that a friend will have a dangerous secret. You will need to defend this friend and you will have power to do so. But it will be a massive change" she summarised.

Nanoha nodded and packed the cards away.

"Be on guard Nanoha. I haven't slept well since the last full moon" Momoko warned.

Nodding, Nanoha slipped out of the kitchen.

"Come on Arisa, Suzuka! You'll get fat eating all that!"

Momoko shook her head as the gasps of outrage and the thunder of the three girls storming out reached her.

"Be careful, Nanoha."

====

"Come on guys, this is a shortcut" Arisa promised and gestured to the densely wooden area to their right.

Suzuka glanced at it warily before smiling hopefully at Nanoha. "The cards didn't say we'd be hurt, did they?"

Nanoha shook her head, mainly to appease Suzuka. Whilst the cards didn't say they'd be hurt, just looking at the woods made her teeth itch. It was a very odd sensation since she had yet to actually experience it.

"Oh come on Nanoha" Arisa wheedled and began to walk into the forest with a jaunty stride.

Glancing at Nanoha, Suzuka followed suit.

"The cards didn't say dumb friends" Nanoha complained before following them in.

Arisa slowed down to let Suzuka and Nanoha catch up. Whilst she wouldn't show it, the forest was intimidating. The further in they got, the darker it seemed and the trees themselves creaked warningly in the wind.

Hearing a splat, she glanced down…and screamed.

Nanoha and Suzuka who had been at best a few meters away raced up to see what had caused the brave Arisa to scream.

Suzuka paled when she saw what Arisa had stepped in.

_Blood_

Nanoha had seen far worse in her life, like seeing her father in the hospital. Glancing around, she ignored the near-hysterical Arisa. Sweeping her gaze over the trees and then across the path, she burst into a sprint when her eyes caught something moving up ahead.

Dashing up close and crouching to her knees, Nanoha winced at the sight of the ferret. "Oh you poor thing" she whispered, reaching out and gently touching it. Finding it still warm, she winced as Arisa and Suzuka appeared next to her.

"We should take it to the vet" Suzuka said, leaning close to look at it.

Nanoha made a split-second decision.

"You two go to the school. I'll take it to the vet and you can tell them I'll be a bit late. Please?" Nanoha asked, gathering the ferret up into her arms.

Arisa was about to protest when Suzuka laid a hand on her arm and shook her head minutely.

"Fine! But we get to see him after!" Arisa declared and began to stomp towards the prep school.

Nanoha smiled thankfully at Suzuka and got a nod in return.

Gently cradling the ferret, Nanoha set into a fast walk. It was difficult making sure she didn't jostle the ferret too much and also ensuring the cards in her back didn't get damaged.

Not noticing the strange looks she was getting, Nanoha easily made it to the vet's. Entering, she smiled nervously at the receptionist.

Catching sight of the ferret, the secretary immediately stood and hurried into the office. A moment later and the vet emerged.

"Um…hi" Nanoha began lamely and held out the ferret in explanation.

"Come with me. We'll get him bandaged up" she stated soothingly and lead Nanoha into the surgery. Pulling out some antiseptic, bandages and salve, she glanced at Nanoha. "You're enrolled in the prep school, right? I've seen you walk past now and then."

Nodding, Nanoha fidgeted.

"Lay him down on the table" the vet instructed and blinked at the strange bauble around the yellow animals neck. As soon as the ferret was lying flat, she easily slipped it off the creatures neck and examined it.

"Weird…it's not a collar" she mused before looking at Nanoha. "Would you mind holding on to this for a while? At least until he's better."

Nodding, Nanoha accepted it and rubbed it with her thumb.

_It feels…warm_ she thought.

"Oh no! I'm late! Thankyou, Miss Vet!" Nanoha exclaimed and pocketed the jewel before rushing out.

Glancing down at the ferret, she blinked as it struggled to rise.

"None of that for you!"

====

Nanoha slipped into the large auditorium and quietly made her way to her seat.

"Take your seat Miss Takamachi. Your friends explained why" the teacher ordered without even turning.

Blushing as half of the class turned towards her, Nanoha dropped into her seat and smiled thankfully at Arisa and Suzuka.

"So, how'd it go?" Suzuka whispered, shifting her book so Nanoha could copy down what she had missed.

"He'll be fine. The vet will keep him overnight and we can go see him after class" Nanoha responded.

Reaching into her pocket, she gently touched the odd red gem that she had received from the vet. It was oddly warm and with each touch, it sent a small shock through her arm.

_Should I tell them?_ Nanoha thought to herself before shaking her head minutely. If she told them, not only would they be jealous but they would also want to have it.

Nanoha was a methodical worker. She was slow but steady in working out problems that would have frustrated people older than her.

Constantly checking her facts and thinking through the problem, Nanoha was somewhat of a defensive worker. She didn't make rash leaps or extend herself out upon a flimsy branch of logic like other people would.

"How do you do this problem, Nanoha?" Arisa whispered, pointing to a fraction equation.

Nanoha glanced at Arisa's book and winced at the lack of working out. "I can't tell you Arisa. You know that" Nanoha stated quietly and wilted under the cold look given by the blonde.

Suzuka sighed as she watched Arisa bully Nanoha into helping her. Whilst Arisa would never admit it, Suzuka knew a fair bit of their friendship was based on Nanoha's fortune-telling capabilities and her intelligence.

Easily walking Arisa through the problem and catching Suzuka looking at her, she smiled wanly back at her purple-haired friend.

Suzuka smiled back before hunkering down to her own book.

_I'll need to talk to Arisa tonight_ she thought quietly. Suzuka wasn't a confrontational person but she honestly liked Nanoha outside of her fortune-reading abilities. She was friendly, warm, open and funny at times.

Nanoha rolled the gem between her fingers and went back to her own work.

====

Leading her two friends into the veterinarians surgery, Nanoha was all too aware of the distance that separated her and Arisa at this point.

Letting the other two go on ahead, Nanoha touched the gem in her pocket almost out of habit than curiosity. She may have only had it in her possession for only a few hours but it felt so natural to touch it as she was.

Entering the surgery and walking up to the table, Nanoha looked at the ferret and blinked. It was looking up at her in what looked like need if she interpreted the tilt of its head right.

"It's so small! And so cute!" Arisa squealed, gently touching it and giggling when its short fur tickled her index finger. Continuing to stroke it curiously, Arisa pouted when she realised that it was looking at Nanoha.

"Nanoha, can I talk to you?" the vet asked, a faint smile on her face as she eyed the three girls.

Nodding and walking over to the vet, Nanoha could feel Arisa gazing at her in annoyance.

"Nanoha, where did you find the ferret?" she asked, eyes flicking up to glance at the golden creature.

"Um…in the forest near here, ma'am" Nanoha responded with a slight stammer.

The vet nodded. "You're too nervous to lie. Nanoha…that ferret was badly injured. Whatever hurt it was bad. I've never seen anything like it" she stated quietly, making sure the other two girls couldn't hear.

Even an outsider could see the tension making Arisa's hackles rise.

Nanoha blinked at that. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know Nanoha. Maybe an illegal animal from overseas or a new type of disease. Just keep an eye out. The burns are the worrying part. They're still hot and they won't cool" she stated with a hint of worry seeping into her voice.

"Also, I was wondering if you could take care of the ferret when its better, Nanoha? You brought it here and it doesn't have a collar."

Nanoha nodded, deep in thought. This combined with the card interpretations was starting to trouble her greatly.

"I'd love to!" she stated but made sure to keep her voice low so as to not let Arisa know and thus grow even more annoyed.

"Alright girls. It's time to leave so the little guy can get some rest" the vet announced.

Nodding, Nanoha smiled at both Arisa and Suzuka. "I'll see you tomorrow then" she stated and for what seemed like forever, an awkward silence filled the surgery.

"O-okay Nanoha" Suzuka stated, smiling warmly at her friend whilst casting a disapproving glance at Arisa who was glancing out the window.

====

Nanoha eased into the kitchen and coughed quietly to get her mother's attention.

Nanoha and her father Shiro had never quite meshed. They loved each other but when it came down to it, Nanoha was more Momoko's daughter than Shiro's.

"Yes, Nanoha?" Momoko inquired, glancing up from her mug of tea to eye her daughter.

"I found an odd ferret today" Nanoha began, not even thinking about obscuring any details.

Nodding, Momoko didn't interrupt her daughter. She respected her too much.

"I found it in the small forest near my prep school. This was around its neck" she continued and pulled out the small sphere from her pocket. Handing it to her mother, she waited patiently.

Momoko took it and clasped it in one hand.

Momoko was magical, that could not be denied. Predicting the future was not something an ordinary person could do. But her magic was exceptionally weak. Besides the cards, she could not manifest it outside her body, or in any other way except the cards.

As such, her ancestors had nearly always been neutral in conflicts and squabbles with all sides coming to them for a reading.

And Momoko had recognized this trait within her daughter from the moment of conception. But the power she had felt from her child had eclipsed her own from the very second she had been created.

Even though her magic was quite weak, Momoko was still highly in tune with the workings of the world. Focusing all her will on the gem, she gasped quietly.

Such power…it pulsed and throbbed within. Like bottled lightning it raged and a moment later, Momoko yelped and flung it back towards Nanoha. Looking down, she winced at the bright welt rising on her hand.

The power inherent within the talisman had lashed out at her after recognizing she wasn't the true wielder.

Catching it, Nanoha looked at it. It felt the same as it had all day, maybe a bit warmed.

"That…is a powerful talisman, Nanoha" Momoko said after running cold water over her hand. "Do not lose it."

"Then…the first card has been fulfilled?" Nanoha asked, eyes wide. Whilst her predictions often came true, it was still amazing that she could tell the future.

Nodding, Momoko stepped close and gently cupped her daughters hand around the gem. "This was meant for you, daughter. Keep it close tonight."

"Oh, and mom? I was wondering if we could take care of the ferret once its better?" Nanoha asked, smiling hopefully.

"We'll see in the morning, Nanoha" Momoko stated but the wink she gave caused Nanoha to giggle conspiratorially.

Nodding, Nanoha hugged her mom around the waist before darting out of the kitchen and back upstairs.

Momoko sat down again and eyed the welt. "So much power" she whispered.

====

Nanoha eyed her silent mobile in sadness. Something had changed today, and it hadn't changed for the better. "The second card has been revealed" she whispered morosely.

When the earth changed, it took a great amount of force to change it back.

Changing into her pyjama's slowly and taking the cards from her bag, she laid them on the small square of red cloth which resided upon her night-stand. The cards deserved respect for they not only aided in the divination of the future but they were older than the entire district it seemed.

Sitting down, Nanoha yawned massively and flopped back. Closing her eyes just for a moment, Nanoha felt…something tugging at her mind. Like being poked with a finger, it persisted and only became more and more urgent as she tried to ignore it.

Relenting, she sighed.

"Why would a ferret have this?" she asked and held the jewel up above her.

…_elp me…_

"Who's there?" Nanoha asked, opening her eyes and looking around. Satisfied it was just the wind, she lay down again.

_Please…help me…_

"Okay Kyoya. This isn't funny" Nanoha complained, walking silently over to her door and wrenching it open. "Kyoya?" she asked quietly and got no response.

Closing the door, Nanoha glared at the window before shaking her head.

_Please…I need your help…_

"Okay, who are you?" Nanoha demanded, stamping her foot on the floor in what she hoped was a sign of adult-like anger.

In reality, it was merely cute.

_The ferret…I need your help…it's here!_

A moment later and the voice terminated in what could only be described as a wash of static.

Wincing at the headache it brought up, Nanoha pulled the cards over to her from the nightstand and pulled them from the box.

Closing her eyes and slowing her breathing, Nanoha began to cast them.

One by one the cards were laid flat on the quilt to Nanoha's right and when five had been laid, Nanoha stopped and opened her eyes.

Flipping them one after the other without looking at them, Nanoha barely contained the gasp of shock.

The Other, Lightning, Shield, Fire and Cloak and Dagger.

A very dangerous portent.

Standing, Nanoha took a breath to steady herself. Packing the cards away hurriedly, she got changed in nigh-record time and bolted.

====

Running as fast as she could through the streets, Nanoha cursed her lack of physical fitness. She wasn't overweight, not by any means. She simply lacked the kind of muscles that Suzuka possessed.

Huffing and puffing, Nanoha finally rounded the corner and caught sight of the vet's.

"Everything looks fine" Nanoha whispered aloud as if afraid of disturbing any malignant forces in the area. Advancing slowly, Nanoha froze as…something happened.

Something she had no way of knowing had appeared in her brain.

_The ferret is going to come flying out of the building_ she realised and she could see it in her minds eye. Where the rubble would land and the arc of the small animal. Not questioning her instinct, Nanoha dashed forward as fast as she could. But no more information came to her.

Opening her arms as she neared the gate, Nanoha watched the entire cement wall of the vet's explode outwards as if struck with a massive hammer.

A thunderous crack and roar made the stone under her feet tremble and crack. The roar stopped after the wall fell to its screeching final position and for a moment, all was still.

Then there was a flash, a bestial scream of rage and the ferret came rocketing out of the dark void inside the building.

Arcing high like a golf ball, the ferret rocketed down with its eyes closed. It expected to smash into the unforgiving concrete and when it thumped into something a fair bit softer than concrete, it opened one eye nervously and found a large wall of orange before him.

Nanoha didn't wait for whatever was inside the vet to emerge. Turning on her heel and holding the ferret tight to her chest, she fled.

Yuuno shook himself out of his stupor. He had expected to be splattered over the concrete after he temporarily chained the monster. Had he perished then the monster would have been taken with him.

Panting, Nanoha ducked through alley-ways and past trash-cans.

But based on the crashing and snarls she could hear, the monster was gaining rapidly.

"Stop."

Yelping, Nanoha tripped and sprawled over the pavement at the sudden voice coming from her chest. Glancing up in shock, she saw the ferret lying near her and gazing at her.

"Run away" the ferret requested though his voice was weak and his body trembled with tiredness and fatigue.

"What?" Nanoha asked, not really comprehending what the ferret was saying.

"Run! I might be able to buy you enough time to escape" the golden ferret whispered with blood starting to ooze through the bandages from where he had landed after Nanoha tripped.

"That's not an option" Nanoha whispered as the entire area went deathly quiet. The sound of a trash can tipping over was all the warning Nanoha needed.

Flinging herself at Yuuno and scraping her knee, Nanoha wrenched the ferret up and along with her. Twisting in mid-air and skidding along the asphalt on her back, Nanoha barely dodged the black monster.

Watching it collide into a power pole and freeze as the tower of steel crashed down on it, she looked at the ferret worriedly.

"My name is Yuuno Scrya. Take the red gem in your hand and repeat after me" Yuuno commanded, watching the beast carefully.

Nanoha fished the gem from her pocket and clasped it tight within her hand.

"Focus your mind on it" Yuuno instructed, a note of urgency infecting his tone.

Concentrating on the gem, Nanoha imagined it in her mind. The smooth surface with the deep red almost like blood, its small size…she fixed it all in her mind.

And she could feel it throb in time to her heart.

"Repeat after me" Yuuno ordered, hoping Nanoha didn't hear the angry growl given off by the monster.

"I, who has accepted this mission"

_I, who has accepted this mission_

"Upon the ancient contract, command you to release your power"

_Upon the ancient contract, command you to release your power._

Nanoha stopped for a second as she felt the beating slow down a bit.

"Wind in the sky, stars in the heavens"

_Wind in the sky, stars in the heavens_

"And a resolute heart…"

_And a resolute heart…_

Nanoha knew for sure that the chant was somehow interfering with the gem. It was pulsing slower and cooling in her grip.

"Beats within my chest!"

_Beats within my chest!_

"This magic in my hand…"

_This magic in my hand…_

"Raising Heart, Set-Up!"

_Raising Heart, Set-Up!_

Yuuno expected to feel a spike of power and to see the power he had felt within Nanoha engulf the young girl.

Nothing happened.

"It's cold…" Nanoha whispered and opened her hand.

Raising Heart lay there, bereft of its lustre and beauty. It looked like a mere Christmas bauble covered in dust.

"What the…" Yuuno whispered, fear filling his voice. This had been his one last chance to seal the monster away. And it seemed that Raising Heart had refused the chant and gone dormant.

Nanoha threw herself to the side again with Yuuno, barely dodging a razor-sharp tentacle that struck the ground where she had just been. The stone shattered into a fine plume of dust from the strike.

"Hide!" Nanoha whispered and threw Yuuno into the bushes behind her.

Nanoha ducked to the side as another tentacle lashed out towards her with a soft whistle. Stumbling as the tentacle struck her a glancing blow, she glanced down and her eyes widened when her eyes saw her jumper was torn.

Nanoha knew where each tentacle would lash a few seconds before it would. Yet even with that advanced knowledge, Nanoha barely managed to dodge each lash.

Throwing herself into a clumsy cartwheel to avoid a rapid-fire barrage of tentacles which turned the entire wall to dust and shards of stone, Nanoha panted.

As each second passed, she saw an extra second into the future.

_I…can't keep this up._

Feeling Raising Heart in her hand, she could feel it warming up.

And words came to mind.

"The future gleams bright"

Nanoha threw herself past a column of stone and panted quietly.

"A promise of a better tomorrow" she whispered out.

"My soul is rising to meet it" she murmured, closing her eyes to focus upon the jewel.

"With both hands I grasp my future" she murmured, dodging the lashing blades of shadow instinctively though with each evasion of the beast, the margin for error got thinner and thinner.

"Neither rain or sun will deter me"

Nanoha winced as a tentacle sliced open her side. It was a small cut, barely even a paper-cut yet it stung viciously. Focusing all the harder, she bit her lip.

"For my defences shall be as iron!"

The monster locked itself onto her and lashed forward with every tentacle it had, a dozen razor-sharp spears screaming towards her.

Nanoha's eyes flashed open.

"Raising Heart, Set Up!" she cried out and extended her hand towards the sky as if beseeching the fates.

Yuuno had never heard of a magus ever activating an Intelligent Device with a different chant. Each Device had its own activation phrase implanted into it at the time of creation.

_Either that was the true chant or…she forced a reboot?_ he thought, eyes widening slightly.

The tentacles slashed forward before shattering against the sphere of magic that engulfed the young girl.

Yuuno watched in awe as a sphere of pink light enveloped Nanoha.

Lightning crackled and screeched across the cement from where the magic raged. Black scorch marks were left in their wake whilst the stench of ozone filled the air.

Inside the sphere, things were far more serene although if possible, even more awe-inspiring.

Slowly, a disc of pink light was enveloping Nanoha.

First it engulfed her feet and as it moved up, it seemed to stretch almost like bubble-gum. A moment later and the pink light snapped away from the disc and settled into reality. White sneakers with a blue triangle on the toe area and a gold clasp that would protect the ankle.

As the disc started to move higher, her clothes were seemingly absorbed into the clinging light. And this time instead of merely stretching, the light instantaneously replaced her orange sweater and black skirt with a blue and white skirt.

Progressing higher and higher, a jacket settled onto her dress-clad frame with a red bow stopping it from sliding off.

Slowly, a staff began to materialise to Nanoha's left. Clearly designed for uses other than hand-to-hand combat as shown by its head, its shaft snapped into reality as Raising Heart floated out of Nanoha's grip and took its place as the foci of the staff.

Nanoha gripped it and her eyes snapped open.

Like a petal unfolding, the shell of magic parted from the front and shrunk back into nothingness behind Nanoha, absorbed into the metaphysical space within Raising Heart.

"Incredible" Yuuno whispered. He could see what Nanoha couldn't. Protective runes were inscribed along the hem of the jacket and skirt and whilst he could identify a few clusters, most escaped him.

Nanoha looked up at the beast before glancing down. A strange expression flitted across her face. Both happy and sad.

"Well, at least I'm not dressed like Sailor Moon" was her eventual announcement.

A/N: Alright! First chapter. This is a pilot and I'm looking for a bit of feedback. I would love some reviews.


	2. Chapter 02

Power of Time

Chapter 02

I don't own Nanoha! If I did, the dub wouldn't have been as ghastly! .

I apologize for the time between updates and I hope you like this chapter!

Nanoha quivered like a leaf in a storm as unchecked power flooded through her in a manner reminiscent of electricity.

_It's like I'm waking from a dream_ Nanoha thought to herself as she slowly flexed a glove-covered hand with the other hand grasping Raising Heart firmly. _Everything is so much more vibrant. I feel so much more…me_ she thought and ignored the slightly ridiculous nature of the comment. Given that she was used to reading the cards, Nanoha had accepted the idea of magic from an age when most were mastering reading. But the power that blazed within her now made the faint tingle that infused her with each reading of the cards a mere flicker of a candle in the wind.

Taking a more measuring glance at herself, Nanoha catalogued the things that had escaped her the first time and with each thing noticed, she acted.

Resting on her right hip was a card-holder with no obvious clasp. Reaching into her backpack and opening the tin, Nanoha slid the cards into the holder and they fit perfectly. They weren't squashed at all and yet they were held firmly in the grip of what seemed to be a leather holding case. Closing the flap that would cover the cards, she gave a small start when a spark issued from her fingertip and sealed the cards away safely.

On her left shoulder was a blank spot of white. Typically on a uniform that had white as one of the primary colours it wouldn't be noticed but it was how it was blank that drew attention. A circle made the space blank instead of just another part of her uniform. Ringing that circle were three more. The first was a deep red with flecks of orange through it. Then came a light blue, almost aqua in colour but a bit deeper into the spectrum to be that colour. Then came a grey circle and finally a brown circle. Each ring was barely a millimetre in width with the actual blank space being approximately five centimetres in diameter.

Reaching up and touching it, she felt latent energy within it. But she also felt from it that it would be a while before she divined its purpose.

Hefting the staff and staring at it, she was brought up short in her examination of it by Yuuno's shout of warning.

Snapping her head up, she saw the beast rocketing towards her. It had dug its clawed tentacles into the asphalt and thrown itself forward in an effort to boost its velocity.

Closing her eyes, Nanoha sought inside herself for something…anything to protect herself.

_Tutorial initiated_.

Nanoha blinked as within her mind, the red crystal hovered before.

_Tutorial Program Initiated_

_Intelligent Device "Raising Heart" is in Mode 1. Further Mode's Unknown_

_Mode 1 Designation: Energy Shields_

_Shield 1: Barrier_

_Rank: C+ Directional Deflection Shield_

_Special notes: Used in conjunction with Barrier Blast. When all four runes on the Barrier glow blue, Barrier Blast may be activated._

_Invocation Method: The user must raise their hand toward the source of the attack and will a shield into being. Those who have studied may raise the shield with no gesture and will alone._

_Barrier Blast_

_Rank: B. Directional Energy Shockwave_

_Special notes: Designed to act after the Barrier has been overwhelmed, Barrier Blast when used collapses the shield to a zero point before releasing the absorbed kinetic or magical energy in a direction of the invoker's choosing._

_Invocation Method: The user makes a fist with the same hand that raised the shield before unclasping her hand, signalling the containment magic to disengage. The absorbed kinetic or magical energy then explodes in the same direction as the shield. Designed as a close-range attack._

Nanoha absorbed all the information like a fresh sponge being immersed in water for the first time. Some of the words she didn't understand like _kinetic_ and _zero point_. But she understood most of it.

_Tutorial Ended. Have a nice day._

The last comment made Nanoha smile a bit since she had often heard the same phrase uttered by convenience store clerks or people in fast-food joints.

Looking at the monster rocketing towards her, Nanoha raised her hand and willed a shield into being.

Yuuno had feared that Nanoha had frozen up when she closed her eyes and not moved an inch in the second that passed before her eyes opened. He had been preparing to give his life to save her when she raised her palm toward the beast.

A moment later and his eyes bugged out as a shield irised into being a few centimetres from Nanoha hand. Such was the power being thrown into it that static electricity arced off the shield and played across the ground like the fingers of a curious child. It was silent and there was no roar of magic as one would expect in this situation.

And that made it all the more impressive to Yuuno. Aside from the light crackling of the static electricity and the smell of ozone, there was no noise from the shield.

That changed a moment later when the monster slammed into it like a small meteor.

Nanoha watched in awe as the monster crunched into her shield. There was no other word to describe it for she could hear the sound of…things being crushed and broken as the monster slammed into it…and couldn't break it.

Nanoha watched two runes glow blue and she recalled the instructions for Barrier Break.

_Two more runes and I can see what Barrier Break is_ she thought to herself. As the monster leapt back with shards of shadow dripping to the ground and evaporating into a mist, Nanoha could see it had learnt from the initial assault. Beginning to prowl around at a distance, Nanoha somehow knew what was going to happen next. It was barely a seconds warning if that yet it was enough for her to act.

Instead of lunging forward again, at least thirty razor-edged tentacles shot out from its body. Each of the appendages was thinner than paper but their sharpness was proven to be greater than that of a knife when one idly touched the cement wall behind the monster…and left a six-inch deep groove in it.

_How am I supposed to block all of those?_ Nanoha thought worriedly. Even that split-second of precognition hadn't prepared her for all those appendages suddenly appearing.

_Query accepted_

Nanoha blinked as she heard Raising Heart's distinctive female voice in her mind.

_To move the Barrier, place your hand at its centre with your palm flat against it. After making contact with the Barrier, will it to stick to your hand. At that point you may move the shield however you wish._

Nanoha reached forward and placed her palm against the centre of the shield, a space conspicuously devoid of any of the strange runic language inscribed on it.

Biting her lower lip as she recalled the vague instructions, she simply commanded the barrier to stick to her palm. No words passed through her mind, merely an undeniable feeling of authority and command.

Moving her hand experimentally, Nanoha watched the shield move with her hand. At first it seemed a little hesitant to move from its current plane and she had to really force her arm to move. But after it began to move it seemed more agreeable to the motion.

And it was not a moment too soon for a bare split-second later, the razor-sharp limbs shot forward with each occupying a different angle of attack.

Nanoha watched the first wave approach although wave was somewhat of a bad word to use. No, the word that would fit the attack was an assault.

Nanoha slid her stance lower like she had seen Kyoya and Miyuki do when they spared. She didn't know why they did it or what it was called but each time they did it, it took a lot more to knock them about. Holding the barrier close to her body, Nanoha knew where the first attack would come from.

Moving the barrier to her side, she was barely fast enough to block the first attack even with the advanced warning. Letting out a breath of relief as she saw four of the tentacles shatter against the barrier, Nanoha whirled almost a full half-circle and blocked the next attack with the shield leaving a smear of power in the air.

Yuuno watched in awe as Nanoha moved to intercept each attack before it was made. She had power to spare and she was throwing it at the barrier like no other mage he had seen.

At first he thought it was instinct that made her turn to counter the first attack but watching her move before the next assault had been launched nixed that theory completely.

_Somehow she knows where the attack will come from…before it happens. She doesn't have much warning though_ he mused to himself as he watched her block again and again.

_Could she possibly…have that ability?_

_She's clearly a defensive mage. That barrier is stronger than a lot of other shields. Stronger than my barriers by far. But her control is sloppy_ he thought with some clinical detachment.

And it was true.

Nanoha was throwing her magic into the shield and he could feel how much power was coursing through it. He was frankly surprised that the shield hadn't buckled under the power that had infused it as most would.

_Must be her nature as a defensive mage. It's the only thing keeping it up_ he mused.

All magi had a particular speciality. Whilst they could learn spells from other fields, it would always be far more difficult than acquiring the ones that they were magically aligned with.

The first type of magi was an Assault Magi.

They specialized primarily in attacking although the means could differ drastically between each wielder of the art.

The second was a Defensive Magi.

As the name suggested, they excelled at defending themselves although the fields were no less varied than that of an assault magi.

_I wonder what Nanoha's speciality is. She's showing aptitude for negating physical strikes but its still far too early to make a judgement._

Nanoha panted a bit as she blocked the last of the tentacles. Glancing at the barrier and placing it before her, she noticed that each of the four runes glowed a soft blue.

_Alright…I can use Barrier Blast now. But Raising Heart said it was for close range. So I need to wait for it to attack me._

Whilst most would have balked at such a comment, it suited Nanoha fine. She was no attacker. By attacking, she would leave herself open to a counter-attack. In addition, it would go against her beliefs that related to knowing the future. Without knowing how this would end up, any action beyond that of a defensive one could be potentially disastrous for the future. If she was required to act then she would.

Nanoha concentrated on the images she was receiving in her mind. She knew exactly when the monster would attack.

Images was a poor term to describe what she was seeing, but it seemed the best to use.

It was a melange of sound, sight, hearing, touch and even taste yet somehow she was able to interpret it.

Almost as soon as she processed that, the monster lunged forward with one last attack, clearly intending to end it all. Even from this distance, Nanoha could feel the energy building in the beasts body as it prepared to explode on contact with her shield.

As it neared, a faint smile crossed Nanoha's face as she extended a hand.

And balled her hand into a fist.

The shield seemed to fold in upon itself like a massively complex piece of origami until all that hovered was a burning white sphere.

Even from where she stood, Nanoha could feel the energy rippling from within the singularity.

Had the monster had eyes or any other features which could convey shock, they would undoubtedly be doing so and in every possible variation.

As it drew closer on its parabolic course, Nanoha prepared to open her hand.

As it drew within five feet of the sphere, Nanoha opened her hand.

And the sphere of light erupted towards the monster.

"Barrier…BLAST!"

As the devastating blast erupted from the sphere, it seemed to move at ultrasonic speeds for as it shot towards the monster in the time it takes for the human brain to conceieve one thought, it ripped the winds into a small funnel around it.

Heat washed over Nanoha, reminding her of entering a hot spring. The torrent of luminous power slammed into the monster and ripped it apart as it flung it towards the wall. As it struck, the light seemed to blaze all the harder before it vanished and left the monster implanted in the wall.

Feeling her robes flutter with the wind that had been torn from the area surrounding her, she watched curiously as the strike evaporated.

Slowly, as if reluctant to do so, the monsters flesh began to dissolve in great tracts, revealing nothing underneath. Watching the monster be deconstructed by the forces she had unleashed, Nanoha only then remembered the ferret she had saved. Quickly glancing first to her right then left, she found it watching her curiously.

"Seal it quickly before it escapes" Yuuno urged.

Blinking, Nanoha nodded and stepped forward.

"Uh…Jewel Seed Seal" she stated but given the tone of her voice it sounded more like a question.

Ribbons of magic writhed free of Raising Heart and shot towards the jewel which hovered amidst the destruction. Wrapping around it and binding it tight, the jewel was dragged forcibly towards the large red jewel set into Nanoha's staff. A moment later and it was sucked in with the surface rippling like water the only evidence of it passing into what seemed like solid matter.

Nanoha panted quietly and smiled weakly at Yuuno.

"That was…not what I expected to be doing tonight" she murmured before freezing at the sound of sirens.

"Quick! We have to go before we're caught" Yuuno urged.

Nanoha nodded and scooped him up carefully whilst making sure not to jostle him and as such, reopen his wounds.

====

Nanoha pelted through the streets, ducking through alley-ways that she normally would have avoided for fear of people in them.

But it seemed the thunderous battle she had just engaged in had scared most of them away or they were soundly curled up underneath newspapers.

Bursting into a park that lay close to her home, Nanoha slumped onto the empty bench and continued to pant as she struggled to get her breathing back under control.

"I have to tell my mom about this" Nanoha murmured and blinked as Yuuno savagely shook his head.

"You can't! People aren't used to the concept of magic being real."

Nanoha quirked a lip up in a smile.

"How old are you, Yuuno?"

Struck dumb by the seemingly random question, he paused before answering.

"I'm ten years old."

Nanoha nodded and stayed silent for a moment as she marshalled her thoughts.

"My mother has known about magic since before you were born, Yuuno. She isn't…whatever I am."

"A mage. Whilst some people have a limited degree of talent in the magical arts, those with full command over their power are classified as magi."

Nanoha pondered that.

"I'd prefer being called a sorcerer really. It sounds more impressive."

Yuuno blinked.

"So she isn't a sorcerer like I am. But my entire family line going back centuries have been wielders of magic to some extent from what I can gather. Each female in the Takamachi blood-line has been able to use cards to foretell the future."

Yuuno frowned at her usage of the word sorcerer.

_She used that word purposefully to annoy me_.

"Alright, fine. You can tell her. But if she freaks out, I'm going to have to take steps."

Nanoha frowned at Yuuno but found his countenance unyielding.

"I've seen what happens when a family member can't accept another wielding such power."

His voice was tinged with pain.

Nodding, Nanoha picked him up as soon as her breathing had evened out.

====

Momoko quirked an eyebrow as Nanoha walked into the lounge-room. She wasn't hunched up as if fearing being yelled at but nor was she striding in.

If anything, she looked nervous.

"I take it you were involved in that battle I felt?"

Nanoha blinked and slowly sat down on the chair opposite Momoko. Setting Yuuno down on her knee, Nanoha nodded warily.

Moke had felt the metaphysical shockwaves from the battle and whilst not a hair on her head had moved, each shockwave had been like a sledge-hammer to her psyche. Terror, fear and an odd sense of excitement had left her drained and shaking.

"Mom…I can use magic."

Had Yuuno possessed hands instead of paws, he would have palmed his face. That said, he still tried to make a valiant effort to do so.

"I know, sweetheart. Remember the cards you drew, specifically Lightning and Shield?"

Nanoha blinked but allowed a smile to cross her face at the seeming acceptance.

"Can I hold it for a second?"

Nanoha blinked but gazed at where her hand was pointing. In her hand lay Raising Heart, cupped gently by the curved of her skin and warm to the touch.

Yuuno stayed silent through his eyes had widened with alarm.

"Um…sure" Nanoha replied and passed it gently to Momoko.

Holding it in her hand and closing her fingers about it, Momoko's eyes slowly closed whilst her eyes darted back and forth under closed lids.

After thirty seconds had passed, Momoko let out a quiet sigh and passed the crystal back.

"Do not lose that, Nanoha. It's a powerful talisman."

Nodding, Nanoha accepted it back and stayed quiet.

Momoko waited until her daughter had closed her eyes before looking directly at the ferret.

Instead of speaking, she mouthed the words.

_If any harm comes to her, no force in creation will hide you from me._

Yuuno gulped.

A mage he may have been, but he was also a ten year old boy. And all ten year old boys, no matter what forces they wield, are terrified of older women who threaten them.

"Alright Nanoha. Up to bed. And don't tell anyone about any of this, alright?"

Opening her eyes, Nanoha nodded wearily and picked Yuuno up before departing upstairs.

Momoko sighed quietly and gazed at her hand when Raising Heart had lain.

_I could have been a mage had my skill been awoken early. But Nanoha will do me proud. She will face challenges but I know she will overcome them._

_My daughter…a sorcerer._

On her hand was a tiny burn mark, no bigger than Raising Heart. Though its size was small, it practically glowed with the energy it had unleashed upon her hand.

Only her own talents in the field of sorcery had kept it from boring a hole through her hand.

Nanoha slipped into her room and blinked in surprise at what lay beside her bed.

A small shoebox, clearly having been saved from her own shoes in the past lay there, filled with blankets and towels to form a lovely-looking nest.

Letting Yuuno slide down into the box, only then did Nanoha feel the bone-crushing tiredness that had been held at bay by the remnants of the power she had utilized.

Collapsing onto the bed and lacking the energy to change into her pyjamas, it took a mountain of effort to slide under the covers and shuck her shoes off.

"Tomorrow I'm going to have to teach you, Nanoha" Yuuno stated as he too curled up for the night.

"I have school tomorrow, Yuuno" Nanoha complained, staring up at the ceiling.

"Then you'll have to wake up early" Yuuno stated before closing his eyes.

Had Nanoha the energy, she would have screamed at the unfairness of it all before a faint smile emerged on her face.

_Still, I get to learn magic. At least waking up early will get me something._

====

Nanoha dreamed.

Weird, disjointed dreams that flashed through her slumbering consciousness like an oil slick. Impossible to grasp or even to see properly but still there and tantalizingly so.

Visions of flickering flames and swelling tides duelling and clashing against the other in an apocalyptic fashion engulfed her mind. The earth swallowing tornado's only to be ripped apart by lightning.

The howls of people screamed through her mind as if a death-knell for her formerly normal life.

And for a moment, a flash of swirling blonde hair slashed through her mind, tips soaked with blood and the same-colour eyes.

Then darkness claimed her.

====

Yuuno watched Nanoha shiver and sweat in her sleep as if caught in a truly terrible fever. She thrashed and whimpered quietly as whatever had her in its grip tortured her mercilessly. 

Yuuno had seen magi awaken differently. The true awakening came not when they first utilized their intelligent devices but when their body calmed down and the magic left their system.

Their body had to adapt to the new power that could flood it on demand.

And whilst the success rate was well above ninety-five percent, the rest couldn't take the enormous system shock and died.

Or things worse than death claimed then.

_I'll need to wake her up early to start on the basics. First I should cover a basic understanding of magic and how to put the right amount of power into a spell. With how she was flinging power around tonight, any half-decent mage could out-last her._

_And what was with her using the term sorcerer? That term was dropped from all the TSAB books two centuries ago at least._

_A magi is akin to a mechanic when it comes to magic. They treat it like a tool, prizing functionality over anything else. Once they have it down pat, they don't strive or push themselves any further._

_But Nanoha…she has the capability to excel. She has power in spades and unlike most in the TSAB, its new to her. She's going to be curious and want to explore it._

Yuuno allowed a tiny smile to form before he too succumbed to sleep.

Nanoha mumbled something and stirred as she felt something soft bat at her cheek. Unconsciously lifting her hand and batting at it, she turned over as it was smacked away to nestle the cheek against her pillow.

"Nanoha! Get up!"

Groggily opening her eyes and looking up, she blinked in shock at the sight of a ferret hovering over her.

"Come on, Nanoha. It's time to study."

Still staring, she pouted and glanced out the uncovered window. No light shone in except from the street lights outside her room though the sky was slowly turning blood red.

"Good morning to you too, Yuuno" Nanoha grumbled and continued staring up at him.

_The red sky…bad omen. Blood will be shed this day._

"What are you waiting for? Come on!" Yuuno ordered though he couldn't hide his own enthusiasm.

"Well, unless you want to watch me changing, I'm waiting for you to leave my room" Nanoha stated calmly though her eyes had narrowed somewhat as she stared at Yuuno.

"Fine. But if you're not out of your room in five minutes, I'm coming back in" Yuuno warned before dropping onto the coverlet. Bounding off the bed and slipping through the door, Yuuno shot a suspicious glance at her before ducking around the corner.

Slumping back into her bed, Nanoha couldn't help the grin that overtook her sleep-wracked features. Rubbing her eyes and throwing the coverlet back, she swung her legs out over the edge of the bed.

Quickly standing and moving to the door, she shut it whilst staring at Yuuno as if daring him to come back in.

Shivering at the chill-laden air, Nanoha quickly pulled on a dressing gown. Fluffy-pink with five-petal flowers embossed around the hems and stepped out of her room after checking the time.

_Five AM…I'm getting the feeling I'll be getting used to this before long,_

Yawning and leading the way down to the dining room, Nanoha sat and stared at Yuuno.

"Well…come on. Teach me."

Yuuno frowned at her lack of enthusiasm but the slight twinkle in her eyes set him at ease.

"Alright. Get comfortable because this is going to take a while."

Nanoha wrapped the gown tightly around herself and shifted so her legs were curled up underneath herself. Nodding at him to show she was ready, Nanoha prepared herself.

"The magic you are using right now is called Mid-Childa style. It's the planet that the TSAB makes their headquarters on."

Nanoha blinked but listened.

"The TSAB is like a police force but they monitor all of time and space. Their full name is the Time Space Administration Bureau. Anyway, Raising Heart is an Intelligent Device, a magical construct designed to act as an intermediary between you and the magic at your command. It handles all the complex equations and runic symbols needed to make magic work."

Nanoha looked down at the jewel which hung around her neck before nodding.

"Each magus abo..."

"I'm a sorcerer, Yuuno. Not a magus" Nanoha interrupted, a teasing smile on her face.

"Fine. Each SORCERER get's an Intelligent Device if they test above a certain level. Those that don't have minor talents."

"Where do I fall, Yuuno? You must have rankings of some sort to know who's the strongest."

Yuuno nodded at her question.

"In terms of power, you rank within the top five percent. In terms of knowledge, most school children on Mid-Childa would know more about magic than you."

Nanoha pouted but didn't dispute the point.

"Now, defensive magic…"

====

Nanoha clambered on to the bus, head buzzing with all the information Yuuno had imparted to her.

There had been so much he had imparted and he had informed her that it was just the start!

Looking for Suzuka and Arisa but finding only empty seats where they usually waited for her, she sat heavily on her own usual seat and sighed.

"I miss them" she whispered quietly, shoulders slumped and eyes downcast.

Leaning back and trying to get her mind off the depressing subject of her missing friends, Nanoha cast her mind back to the morning and the somewhat-gruelling exercise Yuuno had put her though.

_Flashback_

_"A magic circle is perhaps the best place to start. It's the most basic part of magic and learning about it will set you in good stead for the future" Yuuno stated, reciting almost the exact same words his own mentor had imparted to him._

_Nanoha nodded quickly and continued to watch him eagerly._

_"Now, the magic we use is known as the Mid-Childan style. It's called this because it originated from my home planet of Mid-Childa."_

_Nanoha blinked at that but accepted it. After all, when you have a talking ferret explaining magic circles, the concept he may not be from this planet didn't sound that far fetched._

_"Now, call one up Nanoha. And I will explain it."_

_Blinking in surprise for the request was odd and certainly not one she expected, Nanoha made to draw Raising Heart out from its haven of inside her jumper._

_"No. Do it on your own and without a focus. When you use Raising Heart, you tap into all of your power. Like a dam wall breaching. First you have to sense your power and know it."_

_Nanoha stared at him for a moment before dropping Raising Heart. Casting her mind back to the night before, of how the power had felt, she sought it within herself and closed her eyes to focus all the better._

_It had felt like an ice-cold fire blazing through her. Making her entire body tingle as a new, more potent energy was chanelled through it._

_And she found it, slumbering quietly like water at the bottom of a well. Raising Heart acted as a sort of bucket, bringing the power up to her._

_"How do I call it up?" she inquired softly, keeping her mind on the power she had found but was out of her reach._

_Yuuno would have smiled had the muscles of the ferret been made for smiling so he sufficed with nodding. Most apprentices were rash and stupid and tried to either dive in or rip it all out._

_And that never ended well, for them or anyone in close proximity._

_"You will it up. Just bring up a small trickle, enough to activate the circle" Yuuno instructed, jumping down onto the carpet with the same amount of noise as a feather falling._

_Nanoha nodded and began to will the energy up. It wasn't the same as speaking or even thinking to herself, it was more that she wanted it and it happened._

_A soft pink glow suffused her closed eyes and Nanoha opened them nervously to see the magic circle surrounding her and glowing gently._

_"Very good, Nanoha. And on your first try too" Yuuno praised before walking to the edge of the circle._

_"The two circles that form the perimeter of the circle are to confine the energies you call up. To focus them. If you called up all your magic right now, it would either rip you - and this house apart - or it would just scatter like mist. Magic can't exist in the material world without a focus and containment."_

_Nanoha paled at the idea of being ripped apart and the collateral damage she would inflict and nodded quickly._

_"Next are the runes you see forming a third circle with the four circled runes at equidistant points."_

_Nanoha glanced down and nodded, easily picking out the two sets of runes Yuuno had mentioned._

_"Between the locations of twelve o clock and 3 o clock on the array are the runes representing the laws of magic. They are simple but absolute."_

_Nanoha glanced up, curious._

_"What it boils down to is this. 'You shalt never use magic to subvert anothers will, nor shall you use magic to intentionally cause suffering.' Another persons mind is held sacrosanct. Pain is unavoidable, whether in battle or even in using magic around the house. But it is causing pain and hurt intentionally with magic that is not tolerated."_

_Nanoha nodded and mentally filed that away._

_"Now from three o clock to six o clock are the runes for what type of mage you ar-"_

_"Sorcerer" Nanoha interrupted, smiling._

_Glaring at her, Yuuno continued._

_"Yours say that you are a Defensive Sorcerer, A-Class. Not Yet Fully Mature."_

_Nanoha bristled at that and opened her mouth to retort before Yuuno shook his head._

_"It means magically mature. It can often take a decade and a half to fully mature. And then you have to consider knowledge and all that."_

_Mollified, Nanoha nodded._

_"Next comes your current spells. Over time, it will change and become more complex. Right now you know Barrier, Barrier Break, Kinesis Manipulation and a few others."_

_Nanoha blinked at the last one._

_"Kinesis manipulation means you can alter an object in motion. You can slow a bullet or make a rock break the sound barrier for example."_

_"Cool..." Nanoha breathed, eyes alight._

_"And finally...this part is interesting. It tells us what your magical affinities are. What kind of magic you're best that."_

_Now that drew Nanoha's attention like a fly to a bug-zapper._

_Could Yuuno have laughed, he would have._

_"It says here that your affinities are...Energy and Elemental" Yuuno stated._

_Nanoha grinned from ear to ear at that._

_"So I can control air, earth, fire, water and everything else?" she asked, voice fervent with anticipation._

_"Now, at twelve o clock, three o clock, six o clock and nine o clock are the four scientific runes. These help to regulate and control the amount of magic you utilize. It basically frees your mind up to take care of more important tasks."_

_"And that brings us to the squares in the middle. One rotates clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. On the first square, each side represents one of the four main elements. Air, earth, fire and water. The second relates to energy. Each side corresponds to Energy, Matter, Dark Matter and Void."_

_Nanoha nodded at the last three but paused at the fourth._

_"What's Void?" Nanoha asked, capitalising the V as Yuuno had done._

_"Void is...the absence of everything. Its the antithesis of everything else. Each of these eight elements are what magi specialize in. The elements can be combined to form lightning, lava, ice...a whole host of things."_

_Nanoha nodded again, reeling it all in like a dry sponge being dunked for the first time. Glancing at the clock, her eyes flew open wide and she released the magical circle. _

_Yuuno blinked and was about to speak when Nanoha grabbed him and stuffed him into a fold of her jumper, keeping him silent._

_And for that, Yuuno was glad. He hadn't been entirely truthful concerning her affinities. The first two had been true but he had left out the third._

Precognition...that hasn't been seen in Mid-Childa for nearly a millenia. It was a potent gift, the ability to skim the deep currents of time and pluck out the most logical of outcomes.

_The moment she had done so, her father walked in and was followed closely by her mother._

_"Coffee...need coffee..." Shiro moaned and stumbled towards the kitchen, looking for all the world like a typical zombie sans blood and wounds._

_"Have fun?" Momoko asked, a knowing smile on her face._

_Flushing, Nanoha nodded weakly._

_End Flashback_

Nanoha blinked open her eyes and stood up, ringing the bell with her heart thudding in her ears.

"Stop! Please stop!" she begged, running towards the front of the bus. They had just passed her stop and the next one wasn't for a few hundred meters.

"Fine, fine. Damn kids" the bus driver swore and opened the door whilst slowing.

Jumping out the door and stumbling as she hit the pavement, Nanoha pelted towards her school as her mind was filled with new thoughts. 

Alrighty! There's chapter 2!

Now, I know a few of you may be a little leery of my usage of the word sorcerer. But you must admit, it sounds far more potent than mage. As the story continues, I may establish the difference between a sorcerer and a mage. Reviews are welcome!


	3. Chapter 03

Power of Time

Chapter 03

I don't own Nanoha! If I did, the dub wouldn't have been as ghastly! .

Nanoha found herself doodling on her pad as she listened to the teacher. As her hand moved seemingly of its own accord, her eyes flicked to Arisa and Suzuka, both of whom had chosen seats as far away from Nanoha as physically possible. Blinking in surprise as Suzuka flicked her an apologetic smile and small shrug of sadness, Nanoha stared at Suzuka without comprehension.

The motions Suzuka had made lasted only a fraction of a second but Nanoha was sure that they had happened.

Put slightly at ease by the mysterious actions, Nanoha turned her attention back to the teacher.

Or tried to, at least.

Her mind was buzzing with all the information Yuuno had imparted to her that morning. But one of the spells that Yuuno had mentioned had captured her attention more than the others, simply because she had yet to utilize or see it.

_Kinesis Manipulation._

When Nanoha had arrived at school, she had ducked into the library to look up the word just to double-check Yuuno's information. And what she found had made her smile eagerly.

Kinesis, or kinetic energy was the field of energy that surrounded an object in motion. The bigger the object in motion, the greater the kinetic energy it had. That particular type of energy was why when something was thrown and it hit another object, it could damage or move it.

Nanoha glanced down at her pencil and slowly, a small smile formed on her face. Glancing around surreptiously to check if anyone was watching her, Nanoha allowed the smile to grow a bit when she saw everyone else in the room was watching the teacher or staring out the window.

Closing her eyes for a moment and locating the well of power that was submerged deep within her, Nanoha began to slowly draw it out, opening her eyes every few seconds to glance down and make sure the circle hadn't appeared.

_Kineses manipulation...I want to make this pencil leap up and hit the ceiling like a bullet_ she thought and felt the stirrings of the ephemeral power around her hand.

An instant later and her pencil shot up from her hand and struck the cement ceiling. As it struck, the wood and lead compressed within the space of a millisecond before expanding outwards rapidly, exploding in a shower of tiny wooden flakes and lead sprinkles.

The sound it made when striking the ceiling was like a gun going off in the classroom and every person there, from student to teacher, screamed and dove for the floor.

Nanoha sluggishly followed their actions, too in awe of what she had done to drop to the floor with the terrified speed which the others had.

Glancing back up, she caught sight of the small dent that had formed in the ceiling due to the sheer speed and velocity her magic had imparted to the pencil.

_That is SO cool_!

That was Nanoha's only thought as she followed the instructions of the teacher.

====

Nanoha smiled sheepishly as she walked into her house and was confronted by the extremely disapproving gaze of both Yuuno and her mom. What made it all the worse - and harder not to smile - was that Yuuno was perched on her mom's head and was almost tapping her paw.

"Nanoha...what did you do?" Yuuno asked, eyes narrowed faintly as he began to run through the possibilities of Nanoha practicing magic publically.

Momoko nodded though kept the motion small so as to not dislodge Yuuno from his perch.

"Well...um...Yuuno told me that I had a spell called Kinesis Manipulation and...well...I tried it on a pencil. It hit the ceiling and exploded" Nanoha explained, trying to foist some of the blame off on Yuuno.

Yuuno frowned at her whilst Momoko sighed.

"I guess it's to be expected. Give a young girl that much power and she'll be curious and want to experiment" Momoko stated. "That being said, I do have to punish you. What if someone had caught you, Nanoha?"

Nanoha ducked her head, face red with mortification as she remembered her mothers fateful words.

_Humans...they fear what they don't understand or can't control. You represent the solution to both for them. If they ever found out about you...me...our family legacy, we would no longer be free._

Card reading was perfectly acceptable in a social setting since all things old were coming back in a form of a renaissance. Its slow emergence had been coined "new age."

"I'm sorry mom" she whispered.

Nodding, Momoko knelt down and smiled up at her.

"That being said, I am so very proud of you!" she murmured and hugged Nanoha. "The first true sorcerer in our line in over a millenia."

Yuuno was...disturbed by their use of the word sorcerer. It had been niggling at the back of his mind like finding a jewel lodged in a stone wall. No matter how much he tried to pry it loose, it remained stubborn.

"Nanoha...why do you and your mother use the word sorcerer? Isn't the correct term mage?" Yuuno inquired, slightly confused.

Momoko chuckled softly and shook her head.

"Run along Nanoha. You can't go back to school. And don't let me catch you sneaking into the dojo while me and Yuuno are talking" Momoko stated and winked at Nanoha.

Fighting back a grin and nodding, Nanoha made her way quickly outside whilst trying - and failing - to act nonchalant.

"So Yuuno...you want to know what the difference is between a mage and sorcerer? First, tell me how you define a mage" Momoko requested, lifting the ferret off her head and placing him on her knee as she sat.

"Well...in my culture, a mage is someone who has a varying degree of talent when it comes to magical arts. From those who have just enough magic to make a cup levitate to those who can crack moons."

Momoko nodded quietly as she listened.

"And how do you approach magic, as a culture? Is it a formality, a science, a religion?"

At that, Yuuno paused.

"A science mostly. We study it and seek to better understand the energy we call magic. We create the devices like the one Nanoha has to act as...intermediaries. The devices perform the complex functions that a human usually has to study decades for."

Momoko nodded and held up a hand to stop him.

"The difference between a mage and a sorcerer then is...whilst a mage approaches magic like a science as you said, a sorcerer is a step beyond a mage. A sorcerer is a mage who has delved into magic far enough to understand it but not in terms that would apply to science. Nanoha has been practicing magic since she was old enough to walk and she took to it like a fish to water. She picked up card reading faster than my mother or I ever did."

Yuuno frowned in thought.

"In my culture, there are tales of people who advanced magic a step beyond what was previously thought possible. But we just call them magi as well. We don't like to set levels of power since it seems to limit people. They see a level above them and give up, instead of trying to excel and break the mould."

Momoko spared Yuuno a sympathetic glance.

"It sounds like your culture values mediocrity and conformance above excellence and change."

Yuuno wanted to argue, to defend the TSAB and all the wonderful things they had done. All the atrocities they had prevented.

But he found he couldn't.

"I...love magic above my own culture. Its a shameful thing to admit with how wonderful our civilization is. But magic...it doesn't judge, doesn't discriminate. It rewards those who work hard enough and it never betrays you unless you hurt it first."

Momoko nodded and turned her head to stare at the dojo.

"I think you had better go watch over Nanoha, Momoko. And ask her what she sees magic as. The best teachers learn more from their students than their students learn from them."

Yuuno nodded and slipped off Momoko's knee before making his way outside, his thoughts troubled.

Momoko watched after him and smiled softly.

"Nanoha will need as many allies as she can gain before she matures. I doubt Yuuno's culture will allow someone with Nanoha's talents to practice openly."

====

Nanoha winced as the small pebble struck the dojo wall with a crack and splitered some of the wood. Already twelve other similiar divots lined the wall with a small line of splinters below it.

"Are you working up from no speed or down from very fast?"

Nanoha yelped and spun around as quickly as she was able to. Unfortunately she didn't account for the slippery dojo floor.

Spinning and falling on her rear, she pouted at Yuuno who was struggling not to laugh.

Not to laugh too loud anyway.

"Try working up from no speed, making them a bit faster. And don't try to compare it to something else. Just visualize how fast you want it to go."

Nanoha stared at him.

"How do you know that's what I was doing?" Nanoha asked, staring at him suspiciously.

Yuuno grinned and glanced at the stone in her palm.

Nanoha blinked as the stone slowly levitated up out of her palm before circling her at such speeds that it was lifting dust off the floor.

"I'm a defensive mage too, Nanoha. I learned this a few years ago. After you're done with basic movement we can move on to varying the kinetic force on certain parts of the stone to create movement."

Nodding eagerly, Nanoha held out her palm for the stone which settled sedately into her grip, warm to the touch.

Concentrating on it, Nanoha visualized it slowly rolling out of her palm.

Yuuno watched the stone rock back and forth in Nanoha's hand like a turtle on its back before it rolled out and thunked on the floor.

"It seems you're too used to throwing your power at a spell and making it work, rather than taking a light touch" Yuuno remarked, watching her struggle.

Nanoha nodded, eyes still focused on the stone she was making roll towards the wall.

Yuuno settled back for a few hours of boredom.

====

Nanoha ducked as she failed to steal the momentum from the stone Yuuno had hurled at her.

"Focus, Nanoha! You got the first phase down perfectly. Now rip the kinetic energy from these!" Yuuno nearly shouted at her.

Nanoha had picked up the first part after approximately an hour of intense effort and they had moved on to the second part.

That had been two hours ago and so far, Nanoha had failed to slow a single stone Yuuno had sent rocketing towards her.

Halting the barrage, Yuuno stared at Nanoha who was almost in tears. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he continued in a more sedate tone.

"How are you trying to remove the momentum from these stones, Nanoha?"

Falling to the floor with a thump, she frowned at him whilst puzzling out her answer.

"I'm trying to reach out and seperate the kinetic energy from the stone. But its coming far too fast for me to lock onto it, strip the energy away and keep attention on my surroundings."

Yuuno nodded and seemed to relax.

"That's incredibly advanced magic, Nanoha. It will take even you years to master. Instead...try throwing out a small burst of magic, released with the intent to strip the kinetic energy from the target" Yuuno explained, relief flooding him.

Nanoha nodded and stood, limbs shaking a bit with weariness.

_Calling up magic without Raising Heart is so tiring_.

Nanoha readied herself as Yuuno began to levitate the last remaining pebble.

_I can do this...I have done it in the future so I can do it now!_

Nanoha watched the stone hurtle towards her and flapped her hand at it as if she was batting a fly away.

From the gesture, a small pulse of magic rocketed out and struck the stone in mid-flight. Slowing rapidly, it dropped to the floor utterly motionless a foot later and stayed stock still, all motion and energy torn from it.

Nanoha smiled happily and fell to the floor again, panting heavily. That last burst of energy had drained her to the point where she wasn't sure if getting up was possible, now or in the near future. Limbs trembling, Nanoha sighed happily.

"Nicely done, Nanoha. You can rest now."

Nodding, Nanoha closed her eyes and was out like a light.

====

Nanoha was woken by Yuuno jumping on her stomach and shouting. Cracking open her sleep-encrusted eyes and glaring at Yuuno, she grumbled and made to turn over.

"G'way, sleepy."

"Nanoha, get up! I can feel a Jewel Seed!"

That snapped Nanoha awake faster than a bucket of ice water could have as both fear and excitement tore through her. Quickly scrambling to her feet and rushing towards the door, she was brought up short by Yuuno.

"Nanoha, transform here. We don't know how much time you'll have free when we get there."

Looking at Yuuno in confusion but nodding her own approval of the idea, Nanoha fished out Raising Heart from under her sweater and held it in her palm. The jewel was warm to the touch and not by virtue of her own body temperature.

_Raising Heart, Activate!_

Nanoha forewent the chant that had activated it last time, deeming it far too long and wordy.

And she had forgotten most, if not all of it after the deluge of knowledge Yuuno had poured upon her.

Magic exploded out of the ruby orb held within her palm and enveloped Nanoha, soft pink energy consuming her and leaving an orb floating there as the magic transformed her.

Slowly, the egg of magic parted and Nanoha dropped to the floor with a quiet thump and exhalation, tiny flutters and sparks of magic vanishing in the wake of the transformation.

"Nanoha...did you use the chant?" Yuuno inquired, somewhat surprised the transformation sequence had started so quickly and finished just as fast.

Whether it was due to some odd quirk of the Intelligent Devices or a psychological issue that necessitated drawn out changes, the donning of the magically formed armor often took upwards of thirty seconds, not the ten or so Nanoha had just utilized.

Nanoha frowned minutely and shook her head.

"I didn't need to. I just had to command it to activate and I transformed" Nanoha stated, staring at Yuuno in surprise.

"I-Isn't that normal?"

Yuuno frowned minutely but nodded.

"I suppose it is" he lied before jerking his head to indicate they should get moving. But Yuuno found himself troubled by this most recent development.

_What is it about Nanoha that makes her so...different? Is the difference between a Terran Sorcerer and Mid-Childan mage that vast? Just how far ahead of us are they, magically?_

Yuuno felt a small frission of fear work its way down his spine as he clambered up Nanoha's somewhat wiry frame.

_If it comes down to it though, if Mid-Childa tries to annex Earth into its dominion then I will stand with Nanoha._

Yuuno felt no sense of betrayal at the thought but rather an odd sense of relief. Ever since he had landed on Earth and met Nanoha and Momoko, new thoughts had been cropping up in his head like flowers from a garden.

Unaware of Yuuno's inner thoughts, Nanoha glanced down and shrugged.

_My outfit isn't any different to what a lot of other girls wear so it shouldn't raise any eyebrows. As to the staff..._

Nanoha stared at Raising Heart in its staff form. Almost four feet long and almost coming up to her shoulder, it would definitely stand out.

_If it comes down to it, I suppose I can pretend to be a cosplayer._

Nanoha repressed a shudder at that before nodding to Yuuno.

"Let's go get this Jewel Seed."

====

Both magus and sorcerer stepped out into the warm afternooon light that beamed down from the heavens. Shielding her eyes after the gloom of the dojo, Nanoha glanced about before looking towards Yuuno.

"I need to do a card reading, Yuuno. We know the direction but we may over-shoot it, it might be underground or it may not even be in this realm" Nanoha stated, forestalling any objections the boy-turned-ferret could make.

Yuuno nodded at Nanoha and curled up on her shoulder with his spine pressed against her neck to watch, curiosity making his eyes sharp and stalling any words he might have put forth.

Drawing forth the cards from the holster on her leg and closing her eyes, Nanoha began to shuffle them with the kind of skill only born from doing something for years.

Yuuno barely managed a glimpse or two of the cards as they were shuffled before he began to feel sick from the rapid motion of the cards and seemingly chaotic way they were shuffled. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he quickly recentered himself before opening his eyes.

And he blinked.

Five cards were laid out before Nanoha, resting gently upon the grass.

Slowly opening her eyes and glancing down, Nanoha glanced at the first card in the series of five.

"The Devil. There is evil afoot this day" Nanoha stated and grinned at Yuuno. "Fairly obvious."

Shifting her gaze to the second, Nanoha frowned faintly.

"The Angel. I've never drawn this card before. It's meant to symbolize purity, faith and religion. So there's great evil in faith?"

Nanoha shook her head before moving to the next one.

"The Arrow. It means events will happen very fast when the evil is confronted" Nanoha murmured and glanced at Yuuno.

Looking at the penultimate card and shivering, Nanoha chanced a glance at Yuuno who seemed to be as affected as she was.

"The Broken Bone. There will be pain today for everyone" Nanoha stated, her other hand worrying at the hem of her skirt.

Yuuno winced at the interpretation but nodded.

_It's rare for a magi to not get hurt. In some ways, pain is our currency._

Nanoha turned the next card and stared in confusion.

"The Chaos Card...this is very odd, Yuuno. The Chaos Card is rarely ever drawn expect in dire cases. The Broken Bone proves this but...it means evolution. Change. Growth. But it can also mean suffering, emotional imbalance and a conflict of the self."

Yuuno nodded before shifting to get Nanoha's attention.

"We had best get going, Nanoha. We know the direction and we know to look out for places of faith."

Nodding in agreement and slipping the cards away, Nanoha re-fastened the clasp before rising and walking swiftly off the property.

====

Both teacher and student encountered a problem the second they emerged from the yard and into the streets that bisected the neighborhood.

The side-walks were packed and there was an enormous traffic jam which limited any and all possible movement to at best a shuffle.

Nanoha looked around in surprise at the hundreds of people crowding the sidewalk and even darting in between the cars.

"I wonder why all these people are here?" Nanoha asked aloud, glancing around in shock. She had rarely ever seen so many people clustered like this and it was making her not only nervous but afraid of being discovered.

"Some kind of explosion happened last night at one of the main intersections. All traffic is being routed this way."

Blinking at the voice, Nanoha turned and smiled at the sight of Miyuki standing behind her.

"Hey squirt."

Nanoha's smile vanished to be replaced by a pout.

"Where ya headed? I thought you were grounded" Miyuki inquired, staring at Nanoha inquisitively.

Coughing and rubbing the back of her head, Nanoha glanced away.

"Mom needed me to go fetch something for her. She's busy with the Cards again and…"

"Where'd you get that outfit, Nanoha? I know you don't have anything like it."

Cut off, Nanoha glanced down then back up at Miyuki suspiciously.

"How would you know what I have in my closet, Miyuki? Have you been looking in there for things to wear?" Nanoha teased, taking the initiative.

Blushing at the insinuation and waving her hand, Miyuki looked to her right then left in a secretive manner.

"Tell you what. You don't mention this to anyone and I'll let you go, no questions asked." 

Nodding, Nanoha reached out and grasped Miyuki's pinkie with her own.

Shaking three times, Miyuki grinned and released the pinkie.

"Better get going then, squirt."

Nanoha pouted before nodding. Quickly walking away and merging into the crowd, it took Nanoha less than ten seconds to realize she was hopelessly lost.

And it took another ten to quell the instinctive rise of fear that threatened her composure and made her gorge rise.

Glancing about and spotting a fairly large wall that towered over every person clogging the street, Nanoha made her way over to it before sighing with relief as her back pressed against the cold stone.

Yuuno knew he couldn't talk aloud to Nanoha with all the people pressing in from every direction. It had only been sheer luck that had afforded Nanoha the small alcove between two sets of bins. Glancing about and ensuring that nobody was paying the least bit attention, Yuuno quickly invoked a spell.

_Nanoha, I'm using a spell to speak directly to your mind. You can think your reply back in words or pictures._

Nanoha started terribly at the voice and glanced down in surprise. She remembered that Yuuno had spoken to her mind before they had met but still hearing his voice between her ears was a surprise.

_I can hear you, Yuuno. I wish I could use this during tests, I'd ace them so easily!_

Had Yuuno palms, he would have slapped them to his face.

_Try and get on top of this wall somehow. I have an idea. It's a bit advanced but it might be our only choice._

Nanoha nodded and allowed a small smile to form.

_Challenge accepted._

Stepping back into the surging tide of humanity but sticking close to the fringe, Nanoha found herself swept along with no dark alleys or any way to clamber up in sight.

_Yuuno, there's no way to climb up!_

Yuuno could feel the slowly-rising panic in his protégé's voice and shook his head.

_Looks like we may have to do this the hard way then Nanoha. See if you can get to the top of one of these buildings._

Nodding and not sparing any time on replying, Nanoha split off from the crowd and ducked into one of the office buildings that seemed to reach into the sky like steel trees. Proceeding through the lobby with only a few curious looks directed her way, Nanoha ducked into a lift and hurriedly stabbed the close button.

As the doors had almost closed though, a hand clad in a black glove slipped between the metal doors and triggered the sensor that made them open.

Nanoha watched in shock as a blonde girl with the most amazing ruby eyes stepped into the elevator and didn't even seem to notice her.

The blonde girl quickly stabbed a button and stayed still, crimson eyes focused intently upon the door as if they held some mystic equation.

"Um…hello there?" Nanoha ventured, taking a step forward.

The blonde girl stayed silent through the air around her seemed to lose just a bit of the cold that had infused it seconds before.

The silence seemed to only continue as they rose but when the door opened into a penthouse apartment and the blonde stepped out, two words drifted back to Nanoha.

"Hello there."

A broad smile split Nanoha's face as the soft, almost unheard word reached her ears. As the doors closed, Nanoha managed to catch one last glimpse of the ruby red eyes and her own widened in recognition.

"I've…seen those eyes before."

====

Nanoha stepped out onto the roof of the building and almost immediately the wind slashed at her, her balance wavering before she righted herself. Not trusting her words to carry with the wind as harsh as it was, Nanoha turned her thoughts towards Yuuno.

_Alright, now what? We need to head north I think._

_North it is. This is a far more difficult use of kinesis manipulation. So far you have been creating a field around objects outside of your body. The pencil, a ball or two. This time I want you to do it around yourself. _

Nanoha blinked and turned her head slowly to look at Yuuno as if he were a poisonous snake.

_Are you serious? What if I fall?_

Yuuno shook his head at her minutely. Not as if disappointed but annoyed that she would question her own abilities.

_The field you'll create is a kinesis multiplication field. When you jump, the field will amplify your own motion by a factor of your choosing._

Seeing Nanoha's somewhat confused expression at his terminology, Yuuno sighed minutely.

_Basically, when you jump, the field will let you jump longer. _

"But why can't I fly, Yuuno? Wouldn't that be quicker and easier."

Pleased at the question and her desire to learn, Yuuno shook his head.

_When moving in a city environment, flight can be too dangerous. Too many corners and tight areas where you can be ambushed. Jumping though is more direct from point to point._

Nodding at the explanation, Nanoha looked around and fixed her gaze on the concrete perhaps nine feet distant from her.

_A kinesis multiplying field huh…alright. Let's try this then_ Nanoha thought to herself and called up her magic.

Unlike earlier, her power came to her faster and far easier than before. Instead of trying to draw it up from a deep well, it was more akin to standing beside a lake and able to touch it directly.

Taking a small jump experimentally, Nanoha frowned as she merely took a small bunny hop instead of the expected nine foot jump.

She could hear Yuuno's physical chuckling even from a few feet away.

Taking a step back to her start position, Nanoha concentrated all the harder on the desired result.

_Alright, simply surrounding my body with kinetic energy didn't work. It needs to magnify the effect then. Scale it up. It won't take as much power since I'm providing the initial movement then._

Cloaking herself within a field of magic and concentrating, Nanoha bent every scrap of her will towards it.

_Magnification…Multiplication…Exacerbation_

Taking a small jump, Nanoha let out a yelp as the tiny jump escalated into a ten foot leap that sent her rocketing through the air on an elliptical orbit to the ground.

Landing with a heavy thump and the light cracking of concrete, Nanoha winced and crouched to rub her leg. Kneading both of her calves and biting her lower lip, she directed a confused look to Yuuno.

_Oh…I forgot. Sorry._

"Sorry?" Nanoha yelped.

_Since you're magically creating this force, it doesn't disperse as ordinary kinetic energy would. As you're about to land, you have to decrease the amount of force you applied. Otherwise…_

Yuuno left the worse results unsaid, trusting in Nanoha's own mind to come up with the gruesome fate that could await her.

Nodding and standing gingerly, Nanoha nodded to Yuuno before replicating the same field and leapt back the way she had come but this time going twenty feet. As she rocketed towards the ground, Nanoha bent her knees to absorb the coming impact. Quickly bleeding off the energy into the surrounding air, the released magic formed a somewhat dramatic gust of wind that threatened to send Yuuno tumbling.

"Oh…I forgot. Sorry" Nanoha stated, saccharine in the smile directed at Yuuno.

Yuuno thought a word that made Nanoha gasp and glare at him.

_Let's get going._

Taking a deep breath, Nanoha turned toward the edge and fixed the location in her mind. Calling up the same field that had surrounded her less than a minute ago, she leapt.

With a crump of cracking concrete, Nanoha shot over the edge of the building and sailed through the air in an undignified fluttering of her arms and legs.

Rolling his eyes but feeling inordinately proud of his apprentice, Yuuno called up his own cloak of magic and leapt after her. Soaring through the air like a bullet and landing faster than Nanoha had, he turned and watched her parabolic leap.

As Nanoha began to rocket towards the ground, she quickly began to bleed off the magic that surrounded her.

Landing with a light thump that left her stumbling for a foot or two, she missed the small lightshow that accompanied her descent back to terra firma.

Arcs of lightning had snaked their way away from her landing zone and left light black scorch marks upon the concrete.

Grinning at Yuuno and nodding towards the direction they could both feel the evil emanating from, two words escaped Nanoha.

Words that seemed to be a part of every child, that resonated within each of them and drove them towards feats of daring and stupidity.

"Race you!"

And they were off.

====

Nanoha performed the last leap and came down with a light thump upon the concrete of an alley. The light thump though belied the distance she had just leapt then fell. Easily over two hundred meters had been traversed within a single bound.

"I beat you, Yuuno."

_Oh be quiet_ Yuuno groused from his place curled up against her neck.

Giggling and patting him gently, Nanoha stepped out of the alley before walking towards the shrine she had spotted from the air.

Yuuno had managed to keep up for a few city blocks before Nanoha's superior magic reserves overwhelmed even his skill and control when it came to jumping.

It had been galling in the extreme to ask Nanoha to come back and pick him up.

"So tell me again why wings aren't great in the city."

Yuuno sighed but complied.

_Within the city, jumping is superior since there's little need for dodging. You can control your speed and not have to worry so much about dodging or maneuvering. Plus jumping is slower and requires slower reaction times. Countless young magi on Mid-Childa have broken their necks when trying to fly inside the city limits._

Nanoha nodded and pouted.

"I just really want to fly."

Nanoha stopped her train of thought as she reached the steps. Not bothering to use an empowered jump so as to conserve her remaining power, she began to ascend them at a fair pace.

_How much magic do you have left?_

Nanoha frowned but didn't stop moving.

"I don't feel as strong as I did on the first night but I can still feel plenty there. Should be enough to seal away this seed."

Yuuno nodded but didn't say anything. He had learnt long ago that the Jewel Seeds could be extremely surprising and not conform to any predictions.

Ascending the last few steps and reaching the summit, Nanoha glanced around and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

But something in the air touched her skin like oil. Clinging and making her feel oddly…dirty. As if there was something in the air itself that threatened to defile everything and everyone. A tangible presence of pure evil.

"Nanoha, watch out!"

Yuuno screamed the warning but some instinctive part of him knew it was too late for the warning.

Nanoha was already ducking and throwing a shield up before the first syllable had even left Yuuno's mouth.

An obsidian blur blew by Yuuno and careened into the shield like a cannon-ball, crunching into it before launching itself away and vanishing.

Slowly, the shadows in the battle-field began to lengthen and deepen until it seemed that it would consume the area and leave it bathed in darkness.

Yuuno was numb with shock. The entire encounter had taken less than a second and even now he was struggling to process what had happened.

_It's settled then. Nanoha is precognitive and amazingly adept at it. The TSAB won't let her live free with that talent._

Nanoha rose quickly and glanced around warily. She had pushed every part of her to the limit to deflect that blow and even then it had only barely been enough. Reaching up and patting the back of her neck, she winced when her hand came away red with blood from a tiny nick.

_The claws were so sharp that even a tiny cut, barely more than a paper-cut produced this much blood?_

Nanoha took a steadying breath, fighting down the panic that was already curdling the gastric acid in her gut.

Her precognitive ability only gave her at best a few seconds with the adrenaline flooding her system but even then she was constrained by her own body.

_Even though I know where its coming from, I'm not fast enough to dodge._

Nanoha flung herself to the side and stumbled as the wake of the rushing beast threatened to tip her over. Quickly stabilizing herself and frowning, Nanoha flexed her hand and concentrated on knowing the beasts next move.

_It's coming from…ABOVE!_

Nanoha dropped and flung her hand towards the sky whilst glancing up to confirm the black blur hurtling down towards her. A shield irised into being an inch from her palm just as the beast slammed into it.

The unstoppable force met the immovable object.

Lightning coruscated across the shield and rip trenches in the ground as the friction from both magic and kinetic force vibrated against once another.

Feeling the shield approach point where it could be detonated, Nanoha clenched her fist.

Closing with a _crump_ of displaced air into a sphere, Nanoha flung her hand open and towards the beast.

A lance of energy hammered up…and missed the beast by inches, the mass of malevolence having thrown itself away at the last possible second.

_I'm too slow! _

Nanoha focused on the beast as it circled the area and she noticed something.

_It can't turn quickly when its going so fast. If I slow it down, it'll only turn quicker and if that happens, I'm gone. But what if I speed it up?_

The idea was ludicrous and without doubt, insane. But it was the only option that presented itself to Nanoha with her nerves stretched as taut as they were.

Flicking her gaze around the battle-field, Nanoha smiled grimly when she caught sight of the thick concrete fence that surrounded the area. Whilst it was hidden on one side by the trees and temple proper, there was a lengthy expanse that stood naked.

Dropping to the ground just in time to dodge another lethal swipe that slashed a few hairs off her neck, Nanoha hurtled over to the fence and spun with her eyes immediately locking on to the beast which was circling around and coming close.

Taking a deep breath and fixing in her mind what she intended, Nanoha flung out a hand and willed a magical field into being. Barely a nanometer thick, it stood six feet high and six feet wide, a perfect square.

_Amplify…amplify a hundred fold_.

Nanoha watched in shock as a leaf drifted into the field…and shot past her. The wind generated by its movement alone left a long but shallow cut on her cheek. Glancing behind her, Nanoha's eyes opened wide when she saw the leaf had ripped through the wall.

It had gone through three feet of solid concrete.

Nanoha turned and stared at the monster hurtling towards her. Jaw opened wide, thick ribbons of saliva oozed out of its maw and slathered the ground. Blood flecked its muzzle and its eyes burned with an unholy fury that promised agony unending for the recipient of its ire.

Nanoha took a deep breath and prepared herself. When the beast hit the field, it wouldn't matter what barrier she threw up. It would simply shatter it with the speed it would acquire.

A second from the beast hitting the field, Nanoha threw herself into the field, angled just slightly so she wouldn't hit the beast not annihilate the temple.

The world seemed to blur into a single point around her as her momentum was multiplied a hundred fold. Faster than sound itself.

Yuuno watched as Nanoha struck the field and became nothing but a blur of white. Throwing up the strongest field he knew to bleed the energy off, he watched in shock as she struck it…and barely slowed. Instead of going at a speed that had generated concentric sonic booms behind her, she was hurtling at speeds just shy of the sound barrier.

With a crunch, Nanoha slammed into the opposite wall, shattering it into a pile of concrete dust.

The result for the second Jewel Seed manifestation was far worse.

As it struck the field and was accelerated almost up to the speed of light, Yuuno felt his maw drop as the beast struck the wall…and was quite simply pulped.

The force of the blow completely vaporized the wall with no residue bigger than the tip of a pin able to be seen.

The beast exploded as if it had been a balloon filled with blood, organs and bone and droplets of blood spattered to the ground in a cruel mockery of rain.

Nanoha whimpered as her eyes fluttered open. Every single inch throbbed in agony and the shattered wall was weighing on he enough to make breathing difficult.

_I…need to get out of here_.

Nanoha closed her eyes and began to shape multiple fields around her, one for each heavy rock and boulder.

Whilst there were only seven or eight medium-sized boulders, each weighed in excess of over two hundred pounds and it was only her barrier jacket that was keeping her from being ground to pulp.

Slowly the boulders began to shift and Nanoha amplified the amount of power she was feeding into the fields. Each rock wobbled in mid-air as they floated upwards in defiance of gravity…before they exploded away from her and were sent hurtling across the floor like stones on a pond.

Yuuno yelped and dodged to the side as a boulder the size of a small car went skidding past him and snapped a tree in half.

_Incredible! She's already mastered multiple fields and she's only ten years old! She'll outstrip me soon._

Nanoha staggered to her feet and whimpered in pain. Blood trickled from half a dozen cuts all over her body but she held her head high.

"I…did it Yuuno" she whispered.

Nodding, Yuuno smiled at Nanoha.

"Let's get you home…"

As Yuuno mentioned home, his blood turned to ice in his veins.

_OhcrapOhcrapOhcrap…Momoko is going to crucify me!_

Nodding, Nanoha slowly limped past Yuuno, her barrier jacket and staff reverting to her original attire.

Authors Note: Alrighty! Chapter 03 is now done! It was a bit of work trying to figure out the fight since I wanted something new instead of just a Barrier Blast. I also wanted to point out the flaws in being precognitive. Just because you know something is coming, doesn't mean you can dodge it.

Which as you all know…will mean VERY interesting things for Fate! :D


	4. Chapter 4

Power of Time

Chapter 04

I don't own Nanoha! If I did, the dub wouldn't have been as ghastly! .

Yuuno could still feel his ears ringing as he cautiously made his way up the stairs and into Nanoha's bedroom. It hadn't been that Momoko was loud when she had chewed him out for what had happened, but the raw vehemence in her tone had made him flinch back until he was propped against the back-rest of the chair. Oh, she had shouted but it was when her voice had lowered that he had felt more terrified than any other time in his life.

He could still remember the icy rage on her face when they had both trooped in the door with Nanoha cradling her arm. The break itself had healed on the walk home but the bruising up and down the arm was enough to let anyone know exactly what had happened.

The look on Momoko's face had turned his blood to icy sludge and made him tremble in fear. A magi he was but he had no desire to test himself against Momoko, even if he had been at full power.

_Flashback_

_Momoko smiled slightly as she heard the front door open and the soft tone of her daughter speaking to Yuuno. Turning away from the book she was reading, Momoko beheld her daughter standing in the foyer of the house, cradling her arm and Yuuno looking sheepish._

_Cold fury filled Momoko as she caught sight of the livid bruises ranging up and down her daughters arm as well as the blood-stains and the slight wince that flitted across her face as she stepped tentatively forward._

"_Nanoha. Go to your room now" Momoko ordered, her voice quiet yet vibrating with repressed rage. Much in the way a steel cable slowly grows taunt and begins to vibrate as it's pulled tighter and tighter._

_Nanoha was about to argue or speak up in Yuuno's defense when she caught sight of Momoko's eyes. _

_They almost glowed with fury with the normal peaceful cerulean orbs turned to a stormy blue as if they reflected the chaotic maelstrom within the woman._

_"O-okay" Nanoha mumbled, head ducked. Quickly making her way up to her room, she hissed in pain as her arm bumped the wall. _

_"Hey squirt, what happened?"_

_Letting out a yelp of surprise and freezing, her eyes quickly tracked upwards to find Miyuki staring at her in a mix of worry and wry amusement._

_"Oh...thus? I...um...went for a walk and banged it into a telephone pole" Nanoha lied, the evasion falling easily from her lips._

_"Huh...must have been running to bruise it up that bad. Want to come into my room and I'll look at it?"_

_Nanoha smiled gratefully. Given that both Kyoya and Miyuki sparred daily in the small dojo behind the house, it was inevitable that one of them would pick up medical skills in order to deal with the more annoying injuries such as dislocated shoulders and even mild concussions._

_"NANOHA TAKAMACHI, GET DOWN HERE NOW!"_

_Both Miyuki and Nanoha winced at the thunderous yell that boomed up to them and Nanoha went pale._

_"Nice knowing you, squirt. I'll make sure to say something nice at your funeral."_

_Glaring at Miyuki's back as her sister vanished into her room with more haste than was the norm, Nanoha turned and made her way back down the stairs._

_"What were you thinking, putting her in that kind of danger? Did it seem like a brilliant idea to you, to send my nine year old girl into danger against something that could kill her?"_

_Nanoha peeked into the room and saw Momoko towering over a cowering Yuuno, the ferret curled into the cushions of the chair._

_Without even turning, Momoko snapped a hand towards Nanoha and pointed directly at her._

_"Get in here, now."_

_Gulping, Nanoha inched her way in whilst trying to delay the inevitable._

_"Nanoha, Yuuno here tells me that you faced off against a monster this afternoon. Is that right?"_

_Nanoha froze at her mothers tone, her blood turning to sludge and her neurons slowing to a crawl. It wasn't an angry voice or even a calm voice. _

_It was a deceptively happy voice, by far the worst thing any mother can resort to._

_"Um...yes."_

_Momoko frowned harshly at Nanoha._

_"And why on earth did you think it was your job to deal with it, Nanoha?"_

_Taking a deep breath, Nanoha steeled herself._

_"Because...I'm the only one who can. Yuuno is too weak and the police couldn't have done anything. And if the Government was called in, we'd be exposed."_

_Momoko wanted to be furious with Nanoha, to rant and rave and to hug and console her daughter. But she also understood Nanoha, far more than she would have liked._

_"I see..." Momoko murmured and stared at Nanoha._

_"I'm sorry mom but...it was the right thing to do, wasn't it? If I didn't confront it and beat it, more could have been hurt. And that goes against how we use our gift, doesn't it?"_

_Momoko's frown melted into an annoyed sigh but nodded._

_"C-can I go now?" Nanoha asked, hopeful that nothing would reignite her mothers already short fuse._

_"Yes, you can" Momoko answered, sitting down on a chair and massaging her temples._

_"Alright. Come on Yuu..."_

_"He stays."_

_Nanoha blinked at the interruption before glancing warily at her mother, only to see the angry glare now being directed at Yuuno._

_"I want to yell at him some more" Momoko explained._

_Shooting Yuuno an apologetic glance, Nanoha quickly scurried out of the room with Momoko's shouts snapping at her heels._

_End Flashback_

Yuuno sighed in relief that he had escaped with only his ears ringing. Momoko had looked livid enough to hurt him. Crawling up the last of the stairs, Yuuno paused. Something odd had just touched upon his senses, like a soft breeze filled with the smell of something. Carefully proceeding down the hallway and casting about with his senses, Yuuno felt the air thickening with power as he made his way down the hallway and stopped at Nanoha's room. Lightly pushing the door open, Yuuno blanched.

The room was filled with power, pulsing with it. More power than any one mortal could ever hope to contain. And Yuuno instantly knew that this was not Nanoha's doing, even though it was focused around her. It felt older, older than the very bones of the earth...older even than the stars that burned in the heavens.

Magic usually felt either good or evil. The soothing touch of magic designed to help and defend or even to attack when proper, or the slimy, malevolent feel of black magic which felt like week-old fat from a deep-fryer.

But this felt like neither. It was simply pure magic, untarnished by humans or their perceptions.

Wading through the veritable storm of sorcerous power, Yuuno hopped up on Nanoha's bed and glanced down at her.

She was tossing and turning with sweat slicking her hair back. Rivulets of cold sweat oozed down her face and it was obvious that Nanoha was in the grip of...something.

The magic that enveloped Yuuno seemed to tense and he knew that if he moved to wake her, it would descend upon him with a fury unmatched in all of Mid-Childa's legends.

Lying down beside her, Yuuno wished he could help Nanoha.

Meanwhile, Nanoha dreamed.

====

_The sky was screaming in agony and rage as fire consumed it whilst casting a hellish glow across the earth._

_Nanoha looked about in terror. The asphalt around her glowed a cherry red and puddles of molten metal oozed about sluggishly as if in a crude imitation of lava. But even as she looked, her body began to float forwards as if pulled onwards by something._

_As Nanoha glanced up though, something made her gape in astonishment._

_An island floated in the sky, massive beyond reckoning and powerful beyond knowing. Defying the laws of physics and reality itself to hand there. As she floated on, her gaze flickered down and a scream escaped her._

_The street gutters ran red with blood and corpses lay in the street. Blasted and scorched to the point of obscurity with their flesh charred black, they were locked in poses of agony and terror. Families huddled together, people trying to run away...it was as if Vesuvius had erupted once more except in Japan._

_As she floated forwards and shuddered at the horror, Nanoha's eyes fell upon a tableau that stripped all horror from her and left her filled with shock._

_She stood there...only different. Nanoha gazed at a doppelganger who stood ahead of her and glaring up at the floating island. Sheltered behind her lay a blonde, tresses matted with blood both her own and others. _

_"Talk to me Fate. Stay awake" the Dream-Nanoha ordered, clutching the smoke-stained Raising Heart before her in a guard position._

_"Nanoha...I'm...I don't think I'll make it..."_

_The voice was quiet and soft, burbling with blood pooling in her lungs. Sanguine fluid trickles from both corners of her mouth but she looked oddly...happy._

_"Don't talk like that Fate. You're going to make it out of this even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming" Nanoha replied._

_"Nanoha...look at me..."_

_Turning slowly and kneeling, Nanoha gazed at Fate desperately._

_"We both know...I'm not going to make it. You were my first...best friend" Fate whispered, her arms and legs rapidly growing icy-cold._

_Tears trickled from Nanoha's eyes and she shook her head fiercely. _

_"Nanoha...I...love...you..."_

_The last four words escaped Fate in a tiny whisper as if she was already whispering from beyond the veil of death._

_"Fate?" Nanoha asked quietly, praying that it was just a sick joke. "Wake up Fate, come on. We need to take down your mom and get you to Lindy."_

_Only silence and the snarling of the sky answered her._

_"Come on Fate. Wake up Fate! FATE!"_

_"Stupid child."_

_The chilling denouncement filled the city and seemed to quell the nuclear fires consuming the sky for but a moment._

_Nanoha felt tears trickle off her nose and splatter on Fate's face._

_"That was the first time anybody has ever cried on you, isn't it Fate?" Nanoha asked quietly, ignoring the voice._

_Reaching forward and gently closing Fate's eyes, Nanoha slowly rose. Meters away and in a crater, Yuuno and Arf lay dead, scorched black. They had fought, first against each other and then against the arcane assaults from the Garden. But both had fallen, their bodies burned beyond recognition._

_"You fought till the end Yuuno. You were glorious...a true sorcerer."_

_Closing her eyes and allowing all the emotions she had been holding back to rampage through-out her, Nanoha glared up into the sky and her lips curled into a snarl of rage._

_"Precia, I am going to send you screaming into oblivion."_

_The statement wasn't screamed in some misguided attempt to somehow gain strength nor was it said calmly. Nanoha's voice broke and trembled with each word but each consonant had the ring not of truth...but of prophecy._

_Precia sneered down at the girl and lazily whirled her own Intelligent Device about._

_"I whipped Fate with this. She was a worthless doll, so easily discarded. And now, so are you."_

_Leveling her device at Nanoha, Precia spoke one word and tapped into the Garden of Time's own power to annihilate the annoying little brat._

_"Die."_

_A beam of magic ten yards in diameter screamed down towards Nanoha, black lightning snapping around it angrily whilst the sanguine-colored beam made the fabric of reality itself around it shudder._

_Watching smugly as it hit and detonated in a small fission reaction, Precia nodded. Every inch of the blasted and molten city was slagged in a heart-beat with shockwaves turning everything else to powder. _

_"I won't die, Precia. I will make sure you die first!"_

_Spinning around and staring in both fear and anger at where the beam had struck, Precia saw the shield before the mage. Dim and shattered in places from the assault, it had managed to protect both Nanoha and Fate._

_Nanoha discarded the shield and clutched Raising Heart tight. Wings exploded from her back, both a brilliant azure as if lit from within by a raging firestorm._

_Nanoha flapped them once and shot towards Precia._

_Fury screamed within her whilst grief consumed her._

_Precia snarled and sent bolt after bolt of insidious magic at Nanoha only for the young girl to bat them away carelessly._

_A single thought kept Nanoha on track._

Magic feeds your emotions and your emotions feed your magic. That's how you can keep fighting even after everything seems lost.

_Nanoha had turned the process into an infinite loop._

_With every micro-second that passed, her magic doubled and quadrupled her fury until she was howling in rage. And with every micro-second that elapsed, her grief was magnified four-fold until tears gushed from her eyes._

_Precia could feel the power building within the child. More than enough to vaporize her, the Garden and far more._

_"I will have my daughter back! You won't stop me!" Precia screamed and directed every ounce of power into the last assault, drawing as deeply as possible upon the Garden until her own flesh began to smoke and blacken with the power being drawn in._

_And she unleashed it...a moment too late._

_Nanoha crossed the last kilometer in the time it takes for a mortal heart to beat once and with a howl of both transcendent anger and soul-rending grief, ploughed into Precia._

_Observer-Nanoha could only watch in terror as she watched herself collide with Precia and detonate. The fission explosion had simply passed right through her like a breeze._

_This explosion felt like being hit by a train._

_For just an instant, Nanoha caught sight of a roiling sphere of nuclear fury exploding outwards at the speed of light, a new star screaming into existence as it rendered every scrap of matter down to its base atoms._

_A moment passed...and the Earth was consumed as a new star flared into existence the size of Earth._

_Observer-Nanoha floated in the core of the star, sobbing. What she had seen was enough to almost shatter her completely._

_"Nanoha..."_

_Whimpering at the sound of her name and looking about, she could see nothing. Only the endless fusion reactions taking place around her._

_"These events should not have come to pass. There are greater things waiting for you than this end. It is up to you to change the future."  
_

_And with that, Nanoha woke._

"Nanoha! Nanoha!"

Momoko was hovering over her child, hands gripping her daughters shoulders. Kyoya, Shiro and Miyuki lurked outside the door, looking on in fear.

Yuuno had fetched Momoko when Nanoha had started to thrash and mewl in her bed and had been relegated to the box by Nanoha's bed.

Eyes fluttering open, Nanoha stared at Momoko. The stench of roasted human flesh and blood still filled her nose and mouth and with no explanation, she bolted from the bed and into the bathroom. Seconds later and the sounds of Nanoha vomiting into the toilet bowl filled the room.

"You three go back to bed. I'll talk to Nanoha" Momoko stated and quickly cut off their rebellious protests. "I'm serious. I need to talk to her and she's embarassed right now."

Nodding grumpily and trooping back to bed, they didn't hear Momoko talking to Yuuno.

"What happened Yuuno?"

Pausing to formulate an answer that wouldn't get him kicked out, he decided on the truth.

"When I came upstairs, I felt something odd. I thought it was just Nanoha playing with her magic like most young kids do. Like I still do. When I opened her door, I could feel something powerful. Far more potent than Nanoha. It reeked of magic and power, of pure sorcery and thaumaturgy. It was focused around Nanoha but when I climbed up on her bed to check on her, I could feel it watching me. And if I tried to wake her, I knew it would simply annihilate me."

Momoko frowned at Yuuno.

"This all seems a bit coincidental. Nanoha pushes herself too much, get's hurt..."

At that, Momoko leveled a look at Yuuno who had the decency to duck his head.

"and now has a dream this disturbing. I think she dreamt of the future. And it must have been terrible."

Yuuno frowned but nodded. Precognition he could buy into easily enough but long-range scrying like that was impossible.

Wasn't it?

====

Nanoha shuddered quietly as she clutched desperately at a warm mug. Sipping it tremulously and closing her eyes to fight back a wave of nausea, she whimpered as Momoko sat down opposite her.

"Nanoha...tell me what you saw. You can't keep it inside."

Shuddering, Nanoha met Momoko's eyes and glanced away.

"I saw...so much death. Everyone except me was dead. Tokyo was burning to the ground and..."

Nanoha trailed off before sighing.

"And then...I saw myself die in the dream" Nanoha finished, omitting the part about the blonde girl that her doppelganger had stood over. It wasn't that she didn't trust or love Momoko, but it was the fact that what had transpired had been private, had been far too close to her heart to share so soon.

Momoko nodded and looked down.

"Each of us experiences a dream like that. It shows us what could happen if we let our power control us. Nanoha, we could be rich beyond imagining. We could change the economy of every country with our gift. But if we did..."

"Then we would be feared and hated. And they would try to wipe us out. And when we tried to fight back, it would only get worse" Nanoha finished, having heard the same proverb time and again.

But the dream had felt different, the impressions far too poignant to just write it off as a warning. She had felt the shockwaves and the power that had been unleashed, the raging heat of a new star snarling into existence. Even now, an hour after the dream had passed from her mind and into memory, Nanoha could still feel her skin glowing as if with terrible sunburn yet when she looked down, only her pale pink skin greeted her eyes.

Nodding tiredly, Nanoha felt her head slump a fraction of an inch before she glanced at Momoko.

"Can I go back to bed? It's way too early and I feel better now."

Frowning at the apparent ease with which Nanoha shrugged off the dream, Momoko nodded her consent. Watching Nanoha rise and return to her room, Momoko knew that she wouldn't be able to return to the blissful embrace of Morpheus.

_She's too young to have been cursed with this_ Momoko thought quietly as she rose to pour herself a mug of soothing green tea. _Yuuno awakening my little Nanoha's powers must have accelerated the awakening of her powers. Most of our clan don't receive visions until we pass our thirtieth birthday._

Sipping the tea and leaning against the counter, Momoko stared into the depths of the mug as if seeking advice.

_But only rarely have we received an apocalyptic vision of this magnitude. The last was in Nagasaki and that was seventy years ago yet if what Nanoha telling me is true then it will dwarf that outcome a hundred fold._

Taking a slow sip of the calming fluid, Momoko smiled faintly.

_Nanoha is going to outstrip everything we've learned in the last two millennia by the time she finishes puberty. _

Drawing out a pair of cards she kept on her constantly, Momoko set down the empty mug and began to shuffle them idly whilst clearing her mind of any extraneous thoughts or emotions.

Drawing the first card and laying it down, Momoko narrowed her eyes.

_The Dragon. Something of immense power is here. Could it be Nanoha, this woman who destroyed Tokyo or someone else?_

Laying the next card, Momoko frowned faintly.

_The Shadow. Either something is being obscured or it relates to the first card, implying an evil presence._

With three cards to go, Momoko found herself nervous, dreading the reveal of the next card. The hand so far had been potent and troubling in the extreme.

Drawing the third card and laying it down, Momoko blinked in surprise and some consternation.

_The love card. Depicted are two hearts connected by two threads or ribbons. Does this mean that Nanoha will fall in love with someone?_

The Love card was rarely drawn and when it was revealed, it was the most mysterious and wrongly-interpreted card of them all. Everyone sought a meaning from it that suited them. The love card though represented true love though it didn't specify if it meant romantic, familial or religious.

Drawing the pen-ultimate card and laying it down next to the love card, Momoko pursed her lips.

_The Cracked Mirror. Something lies broken and only reflects a distorted simulacrum of an individual. Will Nanoha have to repair it?_

Finally drawing the fifth card, Momoko could feel the shadows in the kitchen lengthening as if trying to catch her or the card. Momoko could feel the air thicken like cold blood around her and the card itself seemed to wiggle in her hand.

_Impossible! The Warp Card is never drawn when the Love card is on the table!_

The Warp Card had been designed to illustrate a time of absolute chaos, carnage and destruction. But it had a second meaning that few were aware of even within the family. It also signified pure sorcery, the kind man was never meant to wield or even know of.

Slipping the cards away quickly and shuffling them, Momoko began to flip through them.

_What the hell? Where's The Warp card?_

Feeling an icy sluice of fear run down her spine, Momoko took a shuddering breath before slipping the cards back into her pocket.

_There are forces at work here that haven't stirred in eons. _

====

Nanoha yawned slowly as she trudged down the stairs, eyes bloodshot and gait clumsy.

"Still tired, Nanoha?" Yuuno murmured, head pillowed on the collar of her shirt and taking advantage of the heat she put out.

Turning her head slightly to give Yuuno a baleful glare that communicated that she was indeed still tired and it had been a stupid question, she kept trudging down the stairs and into the living room.

"Good morning Nanoha!"

At her mothers greeting, Nanoha barely managed a grunt of hello before collapsing into a chair at the table and sprawling on the wooden table-top.

"Aren't we loquacious this morning" Momoko murmured and ruffled Nanoha's hair. But what worried her more than the disheveled state was the fact Nanoha didn't complain as she usually did. All she did was bat ineffectually at the hand before giving it up as a lost cause.

"That's it. You aren't going to school today. Now eat and go back to bed" Momoko commanded, switching from the lovely mother persona to the clan matriarch persona in the blink of an eye.

"Yes ma'am" Nanoha mumbled and quickly reached for a few pieces of buttered toast and some warm bacon left over from her siblings and father breaking their fast.

"Now, I'll be at the shop today Nanoha so I'll let you sleep here. But after you're up, I'd like you to come to the shop so I can watch over you."

Blinking, Nanoha raised her head and stared at her mom questioningly.

"I drew the cards last night Nanoha. And…I'm not entirely convinced your dream was just a warning. I drew the Dragon and Warp cards."

Sucking in a breath and coughing as some crumbs went down the wrong way, Nanoha shivered as the air seemed to grow colder at the mention of the latter card.

"The Warp card? But…"

"I know, Nanoha. Don't speak of it" Momoko cautioned before smiling at Nanoha. "I've taught you well though."

Blushing faintly at the praise, Nanoha let out a burp and turned and even darker red, ducking her head as both Yuuno and Momoko snickered quietly.

"I'm off, Nanoha. I'll lock the door behind me so go straight to bed" Momoko ordered and quickly grabbed her hand-bag. Depositing a quick kiss on Nanoha's head and a firm look to Yuuno, she swept out the door with the click of the lock the only sound filling the house.

"Your mother is an…interesting woman" Yuuno stated, his spine still cold from the look she had given him.

"That's one way to put it" Nanoha murmured, a smile on her face.

"What's this Warp card that you and your mother are so worried about?"

Swallowing a mouthful of delicious bacon and toast, Nanoha pondered how best to proceed.

"The Warp card signifies violent change and sorcery so profound as to be beyond the ken of mortals" Nanoha explained.

"That wasn't much of an explanation" Yuuno replied, his curiosity now aroused at the concept of something new to learn.

"Alright. To warp something is to change it, but often in a violent manner. Sort of like how heat can warp plastic. This card therefore means that with the change coming, there will be a lot of violence, and the change itself will be sudden and violent. With the Dragon card preceding it, it means that the change will be massive and so will the violence. With the dual meaning of potent sorcery, it means that this change will be effected via magic and not normal means" Nanoha stated, extrapolating further on the subject than her mother would have liked.

But Nanoha had made herself a promise when her powers had been awakened.

_I will push my powers to the edge and beyond it, not let my family…my blood stagnate. I will learn everything I can and push the Takamachi clan beyond the dreams of our progenitor._

It was a promise made in the heat of the moment, when magic had first screamed through her and ignited every sense, engulfed every nerve with her birthright.

But Nanoha was determined to keep it and had reaffirmed that promise to herself after the battle had concluded and the power high had left her.

Nodding, Yuuno closed his eyes.

"Your magic is so weird."

This drew forth a snicker and Nanoha shrugged, disturbing Yuuno an inch or so.

"Maybe so, but to me, your magic is strange. How do you manage to deal with not knowing the future?"

Yuuno frowned at that and ruffled his fur.

"Nanoha…I have to tell you something."

Gulping at the serious tone that Yuuno was using, Nanoha stood and began to make her way up to her room.

"I belong to a society galaxies away. And your talent is almost unheard of in most of the known galaxy. So I have to urge you to be very cautious when they come here to investigate."

"Investigate what?" Nanoha asked, through the growing pool of ice in her stomach told her she already knew.

"They've probably already detected your magical expenditure and classed you as a being needing risk assessment. They've probably also detected the reality fluctuations caused by the Jewel Seeds."

Nanoha sighed and entered her room. Collapsing onto her bed and staring at the ceiling, she found that all desire for sleep had vanished.

"Will I have to fight them too?"

Yuuno frowned, the question having been troubling him for a good long while now.

"I…advise against it. Quite likely they've dispatched a Destroyer-Class ship with a full compliment of crew. Just keep any use of your precognition or card reading to a very low level. You can probably pass it off as luck or instinct."

Nanoha closed her eyes and groaned.

"I hate having to suppress my talents around those who refuse to understand."

Yuuno shrugged and nestled in to the combination of blanket and pyjama top.

"It's suppress them or have them take advantage of you and never be free again" Yuuno remarked quietly.

Nodding, Nanoha allowed the warmth of the recently-vacated and even more recently occupied bed to soothe her to sleep.

====

Nanoha slowly awoke some four hours with a rumbling stomach and with no trace of her earlier tiredness. Glancing about the room after checking to see if Yuuno had moved during the nap, Nanoha's gaze fell on Yuuno who was lying on her desk and apparently absorbed in one of the encyclopedias Nanoha kept in her room.

Rising silently and padding out of the room, Nanoha quickly grabbed the camera from where it had been charging in her parents room and snuck back. Creeping in with a devilish grin, Nanoha quickly took a snapshot of Yuuno.

At the sound of the camera clicking, Yuuno leapt off the desk and went flying to land on Nanoha's bed with a thump that betrayed his small size.

"Nanoha! What are you doing?"

"Taking a picture" Nanoha replied slowly as if talking to a small child.

The irony of her being a small child herself completely escaped her.

Letting out a huff of annoyance, he squeaked as Nanoha began to undress from her pajamas.

"W-what are you doing?"

Blinking, Nanoha swiveled her head to stare at Yuuno in puzzlement.

"Getting changed. What's the big deal, you're not a human."

As the silence stretched after the last statement from Nanoha, Yuuno let out an awkward cough and glanced away guiltily.

Feeling her eyebrow twitch, Nanoha glared.

"Yuuno, you have three seconds to get out or I launch you out. After I shut the door" Nanoha stated.

A second passed and Yuuno had vacated the room, careening off the far wall to speed along the hall.

"Perverted ferret-boy" Nanoha muttered before continuing to change.

Yuuno could feel himself sweating bullets as he waited for Nanoha to come down the stairs. He was more afraid of Nanoha telling Momoko than of any vengeance Nanoha could possibly wreak. It was something instinctual within him, to fear women larger and angrier than himself.

Seeing Nanoha descend the stares and frown at him, Yuuno made his way over and looked up at her hopefully with the expression of a whipped dog.

"Oh fine."

Nanoha sighed and extended her arm for Yuuno to leap up on to. The moment he had landed and scurried up to her shoulder, Nanoha quickly made her way out of the house after making sure to lock it behind her.

"Where are we going? I haven't felt any Jewel Seeds" Yuuno inquired quietly with his head positioned close to Nanoha's neck so he didn't have to speak above a whisper.

"Midori-ya, it's a café my mom and dad own" Nanoha explained, her feet easily treading the same path she had followed for years.

"Will there be cake?" Yuuno asked, eyes glinting with childish hunger.

"Enough cake to make you explode and then some" Nanoha confirmed, a small smile tugging her pout away.

Entering the store and greeting the other people working with a smile and nod, Nanoha quickly headed into the kitchen and smiled at Momoko.

"Sleep well, Nanoha?"

Nodding happily and eying Yuuno, she grinned.

"Yuuno even promised to teach me more about you-know-what if I slept well" she stated, grinning broadly and with a reasonable facsimile of innocence.

Yuuno twitched but remained silent.

_I hate getting blackmailed._

"That's good. We've going to get the after-school rush in a few hours so you had better help me" Momoko stated, grinning at Nanoha and eying Yuuno.

Quickly grabbing her apron off one of the hooks and tying it on, Nanoha grabbed Yuuno and placed him down gently by the oven so the warmth would keep him from freezing on the icy ceramic floor.

Nodding gratefully to Nanoha, Yuuno curled up to watch the two at work.

Retrieving one of the large mixing bowls from the stainless steel bench on the far side of the kitchen, Nanoha began to mix ingredients for a basic sponge with an ease born from endless practice.

====

Hours passed and Nanoha easily lost herself in the soothing act of baking cakes and all kinds of delicacies for paying customers. It was not amazingly exciting like learning magic or being able to consume said sweets but this was soothing and calming. There was no rush, no chance of the outcome being different if you followed the recipe exactly.

And all the while, Momoko talked with Yuuno over by the ovens.

"How is she holding up?"

Yuuno paused to consider the reply that would earn him, if not the love from Momoko then at least a reply that wouldn't earn him a glare.

"She is an incredible student. A prodigy one might say, especially given she has only been exposed to her awakened powers for under a week."

Momoko smiled softly as she crouched down to peer into the oven, losing herself in the heat permeating the steel door and glass window.

"She's always been smart, always been hungry to know more about our history and powers. Unfortunately, we lost a lot during the Dark Ages. It didn't hit Japan as hard as it did Europe, but we still lost texts dating back to Babylon."

Yuuno didn't know what the Dark Ages were, Babylon or Europe but he was determined to find out at a later date.

"She's incredibly powerful. Even now she could probably hold her own against a lot of the soldiers my culture has" Yuuno murmured, deliberately avoiding any mention of another planet.

"Do you think it will come to that?" Momoko asked, some sadness creeping into her tone at the thought of Nanoha having to fight and even having to kill.

"Her powers would be a boon to my culture. Precognition and prophetic dreams are practically unheard of except in legends and old stories."

Momoko nodded and smiled grimly.

"It's the same here, only a lot worse. Most don't believe in magic and those who do are usually new-age hippies with no respect for the powers they toy with."

Yuuno laughed softly in agreement.

"Please look after her, Yuuno. She's going deeper into sorcery...into magic than any of our ancestors even dreamed possible. How advanced is her precognition?"

Yuuno looked into the oven and prepared a response.

"From what I can see, it varies. In the heat of combat, no more than one or two seconds. Which makes sense according to what I've read on the subject. When out of it...anywhere up to a minute, but even that can be obscenely vague."

"What you've read of it? Do share" Momoko requested, burning with the same curiosity that filled her daughter.

"The further into the future you see, the more you need to seperate possible outcomes from the true path time will take. And the sooner you take action, the more the disruptions. Take the cake for example. If you get it out now to cool, it won't be fully cooked but you can serve it sooner. But people may get sick. But if you get it out when its fully cooked and risen, you will have a much better cake. Some may complain a bit about it being warm, but it trumps people getting sick."

Momoko turned an eye on Yuuno and smiled softly.

"You really are quite smart, aren't you?"

Blushing at the praise, Yuuno ducked his head.

"I just read a lot is all. Not much else to do except digging when I was out on an archaeology expedition, and I was too young to do anything massive."

Grinning at that, Momoko nodded.

"When I was first learning the ins and outs of reading the cards, I had to do a lot of reading to. But Nanoha…she picks up on concepts almost faster than I can teach them to her. She will make our clan great once more. Maybe not here but…"

At that, Momoko trailed off and a comfortable silence fell between ferret-magus and mother.

====

Nanoha wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and sighed in relief as the last cake went into the oven. The clang of the door closing was treated with as much reverence as one treats a school bell and the second the oven was shut, Nanoha stripped off her apron and hung it up.

"Alright, I guess you can stop know" Momoko stated dryly and laughed at the guilty expression on Nanoha's face.

"Sorry" Nanoha mumbled, straightening up the apron and brushing off a few clumps of flour.

"It's fine. I imagine baking wasn't what you had in mind when I said you could have a day off school, huh?" Momoko asked and grinned at the blush Nanoha had.

"Anyway, I guess you can head home. You've worked hard" Momoko stated, relenting on her daughter and getting a smile from her.

Nodding, Nanoha gestured to Yuuno and watched him all but waddle towards her.

"That's what you get for being a pig" Nanoha informed him primly, discreetly wiping away a piece of frosting from her own nose before Yuuno could see it.

"But it was so yummy" Yuuno whined in reply, leaping on to Nanoha's arm and landing with a plop. Scrabbling up to her shoulder and nestling there, he yawned.

"Lazy ferret" she grumbled and with a nod to Momoko, left.

"It's weird there haven't been any Jewel Seeds activating lately" Nanoha mused quietly as they left the shop and began to make their way through the mercifully-thin crowd of school kids rushing to Midori-ya.

"I thought you'd know better than to tempt fate like that" Yuuno remarked idly and got a frown and a nod in reply, conceding the point.

"I felt something today when you were baking but it was very minor. No where near what a Jewel Seed can create" Yuuno admitted and shuffled around a bit at the curious expression from Nanoha.

"Do you know what it was?"

"Felt like a bit of healing magic really. Was very soft and soothing. Didn't last very long though, maybe half a second. Probably just someone with a little bit of talent" Yuuno stated.

A moment later and the world exploded into screams and flying cement.

Nanoha had felt…something approaching. Like standing by the train tracks with your eyes closed and ears plugged. The air had hung heavy around her, stemming from the ether, as if she had been standing under the rock of Gibraltar or wearing a truly massive cloak.

Nanoha immediately reached for Raising Heart around her neck and willed it into action, the sphere of magic engulfing her within a second and shattering a moment later to reveal her in the usual battle garb, staff clutched tight in her right hand.

And it was just in time for merely a second after the garb had manifested, a massive green root slammed into her and sent her rocketing into the sky.

Yuuno barely had time to erect a field to slow his movement before he struck the side of a building and had it not been for the field which ripped the kinetic energy from his form, there would have only been a red streak.

Panting at the sudden rush of magic leaving him, Yuuno easily began to leap up the side of the building, utilizing small localized kinetic fields to halt and amplify his movement, mimicking zero gravity each time he stopped.

"Nanoha...don't die."

===

Nanoha felt as if her body had been replaced by an enormous bruise. Every inch of her body ached and throbbed in time with the beat of her heart whilst her vision was filled with nothing except blue and a few white streaks.

_What...happened?_

It began to trickle back to her. The massive impact from the street, the gigantic flash of green and the thunderous roar of shattering cement.

_A kinetic field won't do any good here. I'm already starting to fall outside the city_.

Slowly spinning in mid-air, Nanoha caught sight of the tree that had erupted out of the center of her city, buildings ripped in twain and streets sundered.

_Raising Heart...I need to fly._

The gem in her staff shone with a soft red light, comforting her.

_Request acknowledged. Activating Flight Protocol. Stand-by for instructions._

Brilliant blue wings exploded out of Nanoha's back, giving her wingspan of nearly twenty feet. Each feather was reminiscent of either steel or a royal blue, seeming to shift between hues from a grayish blue to almost purple depending on the angle of the light that struck them.

_Commencing instruction download and adjustment of A-10 nerve cluster._

A lance of pain rammed itself through Nanoha's skull and a scream barely escaped from her as a whimper before it faded and left her skull throbbing with both the residual pain and new knowledge.

With an experimental flap of her new wings, Nanoha halted her upward movement and initiated a holding pattern above the city, wings keeping her stationary albeit wobbling somewhat in the air currents. Looking down, Nanoha could feel the stirrings of anger surging through her.

_How dare this Jewel Seed do this to MY city?_

Buildings had been ripped in twain with roads utterly annihilated; the roots which had done so leading back to an enormous tree in the middle of the town.

Nanoha glanced around the city with the aim of finding a building that was still standing. Finding one lurking on the edge of the roots range and zipping towards it, Nanoha focused on her precognitive abilities.

_One of those root strikes will send me THROUGH a building. I need to be careful._

Alighting on the roof of the building and glancing around for Yuuno, a smile blossomed on her face when she caught sight of him at least ten buildings away, leaping cautiously between buildings every couple of minutes.

It was that which truly cemented in Nanoha's mind just how much more power she had at her disposal than Yuuno, and the vast gulf between their levels of control.

_I have so much more power than Yuuno, but he's still able to leap between buildings with more accuracy and grace than I can manage._

So consumed in her thoughts was she, the sound of cracking concrete didn't register until it was too late.

Like an enormous wave, roots exploded into her field of vision and formed a massive cocoon around the top of the building, the roots woven so tight and accurately that not even a sliver of sunlight managed to penetrate the canopy.

And then the roots began to rush inwards, the sphere rapidly compressing whilst leaving no weak spot or gap for her to slip through.

Yuuno watched in shock and horror as the roots trapped Nanoha so perfectly. He had easily identified the introspective look on her face and had tried to shout out to her, to revert her attention back to the present but the sound of splintering cement had drowned him out.

As the cage began to rapidly compress, Yuuno knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no way for her to escape. Every single barrier of the Mid-Childan style had been designed to deal with an attack from one direction since creating and holding a shield which covered all vectors was far too strenuous for most magi.

And Nanoha didn't know near enough to even begin to foray into that field.

So it was with sorrow that Yuuno watched as the vines continued their inexorable compression and the last thing he heard from within the cage was a shout, distorted by the groaning of the roots.

The cage of roots closed with strangle no sound or scream but Yuuno chalked that up to the hopefully instantaneous death.

"AEGIS: SHOCKWAVE!"

The scream of power tore through the city, sending birds hurtling into the sky and Yuuno scurrying for cover before his brain registered that it was Nanoha's voice.

Glancing back, his jaw dropped and his eyes almost rolled out of their sockets with awe.

A moment after the scream had passed, the roots were simply…atomized and a sphere of magic, completely transparent, blasted outwards from a panting Nanoha, vaporizing all the roots within a hundred yards of her position.

Wings erupted once more from Nanoha's back, having retreated as the sphere had closed in. With a violent down-beat of her wings and blasting upwards, Nanoha spiraled into an arc towards the tree with a contrail of air left in her wake.

As she began to curve downwards, roots and vines speared upwards with their tips glinting in the light.

Tilting to the side and skimming along the first, Nanoha spun away just in time to avoid another root which would have impaled her. Rocketing upwards and curving away from a dozen roots, Nanoha tilted back and dived past the roots, her spine curving to an almost painful angle to evade the organic spears.

As they rocketed past her, Nanoha took the advantage and blasted downwards, her wings pounding the air and accelerating her to speeds humans were never meant to go. Cruising alongside one of the larger roots and curving upwards to avoid a green missile, Nanoha found herself rapidly approaching the center of the city and hit the business district.

Dodging through crushed and broken streets, Nanoha shot through a small gap in a blaze with the heat deflected by her barrier jacket. Chancing a quick glance back and finding over fifty of the roots pursuing her, Nanoha nodded and sped up, curving upwards to dodge between the ever-growing buildings.

Doing a quick barrel roll to avoid what should have been an ambush, Nanoha felt the insane urge to stick out her tongue.

_Maybe later._

Arriving at the base of the tree, Nanoha glanced up and caught sight of two children around her age encased in golden amber.

Turning towards the onslaught of roots tearing their way towards her, Nanoha called up every scrap of her magic and willed a barrier into being.

Static electricity arced across it as it swirled into being, every line reinforced and every rune inscribed with power until they glowed. Instead of simply throwing magic into the shield and hoping for the best, Nanoha was directly controlling the flow of the mystic forces, subtly altering it every second to ensure it stayed as strong as possible.

The massive wave of green struck Nanoha…and she stood firm against it, a bulwark against that which would seek to annihilate her and everything she loved.

A flare of light erupted and would have blinded Yuuno had he not been expecting it and had willed a filter into being. Mass was converted into energy as the tsunami of cement-like greenery crushed itself against the barrier.

Watching the gauges rapidly fill, Nanoha waited for the perfect moment to drop the shield and fire.

_Now!_

Crushing the shield into a null point, Nanoha willed a field into being around her and shot upwards at the speed of sound with a sonic boom scattering the greenery.

"BARRIER BREAK!"

Aiming her palm at the amber and specifically at the seed she could say, Nanoha allowed the containment around the energy collapse.

A veritable flood of kinetic-turned-mystic energy exploded forth from her hand with a howl and with a crunch of shattering crystal, ripped through the amber and began to spread through each of the hundreds of roots which had violated her city, vaporizing them and leaving only wreckage.

As the flood subsided, Nanoha extended Raising Heart towards the floating Jewel Seed, limbs shaking from the effort. Powerful as she was, even she had limits.

"Seal."

Ribbons of light erupted out of her staff and swallowed up the pulsing crystal, wrapping it up in magic designed to contain and neutralize the malignant object.

Watching the Jewel Seed get absorbed into Raising Heart, Nanoha allowed a satisfied smile to blossom.

_This is the first time I went all out without Yuuno there to coach or help me. It felt good to push myself._

Carefully flapping over to the building where she had last seen Yuuno, Nanoha barely made it before both wings and battle garb faded. Falling to her knees with a tired groan, she smiled as Yuuno ran up to her and began to jabber.

"Not now…so tired…"

Slowly, Nanoha keeled over and didn't wake when she struck the ground.

And then she began to snore, a trickle of drool escaping her mouth.

_She is a true mage. Never giving me any answers._

Yuuno sighed fondly.

AN: And there we have Chapter 04! I hope you all enjoyed the dream sequence. The particular divergence point won't come for a while yet. Or…maybe it has already happened. Only I know. And yes, I'm aware I'm being cruel :D

This chapter I wanted to illustrate some of the family dynamic between Yuuno and Momoko as well as what felt like a truly epic battle. I agonized for days over how to work Aegis: Shockwave. And don't worry, I'll be explaining this spell later.

Maybe. ;)


End file.
